If I Could Save You
by DCFanatic4life
Summary: --slight AU-- Chris Jericho doesn't know how to stop being a big brother, even now that his sister has married Shane McMahon. Will he be there when she needs him the most? We'll see...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or real people portrayed in this story. The characters belong to WWE and the real people own themselves. There will be some adult situations and profanity in the story, but it's not too bad, but you have been warned appropriately.

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A/N: I know I shouldn't start new stories, but this one is probably not going to be that long, I'm anticipating no more than 5 chapters. Anyways, this is actually a challenge fic sent to me by a reader so I thought I'd give it a shot. If anyone wants to know what the challenge was, let me know, I don't want to give it away here though.

So this story is going to be very slightly AU in that Chris will have a sister. That's the biggest change I guess. The rest of the changes, minor ones, can be found in this opening chapter. It's really more of a set-up chapter so I hope it's okay. I hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your thoughts on the story as I'm not working solely on my own idea, scary! lol Anyways, leave a review if you please and if you want to be brutal, as always, go right ahead, enjoy. :)

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"Will you just smile?"

"What, I'm smiling," Chris said, forcing a strained smile on his face.

Stephanie wrapped her arms a little tighter around his neck and if he wasn't careful, she might just make that grip so tight that he would start to choke. He wouldn't put it past her if she did. He could tell that she was getting angry with him and he knew why, but he wasn't going to acknowledge it if he could help it. It seemed, though, that she was going to make him acknowledge it. To try and avoid the conversation he knew was coming, he averted his eyes, studying the elaborately decorated ballroom, the lights slightly dimmed to create a romantic effect and there were candles to create an even more romantic feel. He felt like he was in some cheesy music video that Celine freaking Dion would sing.

He felt Stephanie's finger under his chin and it pulled him so he was looking at her. "Hello there, Mr. Irvine," she said to him and he could almost feel the next question out of her mouth so he knew he had to head her off at the pass.

"Do you think my cousin's kid is taking care of the girls alright?" he asked. "Maybe we should give a call up to the room and see if they're asleep and if they got to sleep okay if they are. Just to check up on them, you know?"

"I'm sure they're fine," she reassured him. "I'm sure that you're cousin's daughter is taking great care of them. We don't need to bother her."

"You aren't taking very much interest in our children, you know," Chris said, trying to take the conversation in a completely different direction than the one he knew it was going in. He just had to stall for a little while longer.

"Chris, stop, you know they're okay. Will you please, for me, lighten up?" she asked. "This is a happy occasion and I don't know why you insist on making it into such a big deal. I saw you when you were up at the altar, you looked like you were about to get your teeth pulled. It's unnecessary. Just lighten up and enjoy the evening."

"How can I enjoy the evening?"

"By dancing with your beautiful wife who wants to be here with you if you would just stop staring at your sister and my brother for two seconds," she said, glancing over to where his eyes had drifted.

"Don't you think it's weird now that your brother married my sister? It means our family is connected doubly over, it's practically incestuous."

"It's not incestuous at all, what are you even going on about?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "It's not like _we're_ brother and sister. I think it's sweet actually. The McMahons just can't get enough of the Irvines, don't you find that romantic?"

"No, I don't find that romantic, I find it creepy. It's like your brother had no other prospects so he decided to go after my sister because she was convenient."

"Chris, come on, they love each other, look at them," Stephanie said, again glancing in that direction.

"They rushed into this."

"Oh my God, this again," she groaned. "Chris, will you please just give that up? I can't believe you can't let that go, please, please, please let that go and enjoy your evening, please? You are going to bring this entire wedding down. Do you want to do that? Do you want to do that to your sister?"

Chris didn't want to hurt his sister. He was the typical brother, overprotective and overbearing at times. He could remember when Maryn was a teenager and he would come home specifically to stare down any guys that wanted to be with his sister. That was a good thing about being a wrestler, he was intimidating and with his dad being a former hockey, they were double trouble for any guy that tried to enter his sister's life. He just never figured _the_ man to be in his sister's life would be his wife's brother. It made that whole intimidation factor kind of a moot point.

"No, I don't want to do that to her," he mumbled, looking down.

"Then don't. This is a happy day and she's married to my brother, it's not like you don't know my brother, right?"

"Well, I only know him because he's one of my bosses and because he's your brother, it's not like we've actually taken time to hang out. In case you haven't noticed, we kind of run in different circles."

"Well now, since he's your sister's husband, you can take some time to get to know him better, huh?"

"I don't think so," Chris said. "What makes them actually think this will work out? They dated for like a _second_."

"It was not a second."

"They dated for a month before they got engaged and then they got married three months later!" Chris protested.

"They've known each other for _years_. Chris, when was the first time they met?"

"I don't know."

"It was the second night after your debut. Your sister and your dad and step-mom came to see you and you introduced them."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I remember being introduced to them and your stepmother said that I was such a pretty girl and you needed to find a girl like me, I remember because I thought you were the most handsome man I'd ever seen in my life and just talking to you had been the highlight of my day," Stephanie said, kissing her way down Chris's jaw as she spoke.

"And yet you dated Paul before you dated me," Chris said, pulling away a little to look at her with that smirk on his face.

"Everyone is allowed one huge mistake in their life and that was mine, but I remedied that really quick, didn't I?" she told him, kissing his chin. "It only took me a few months to find out that he was not what I wanted and that you were."

"Yeah and we started dating in 2000 and got married in 2003, we didn't immediately get married," Chris pointed out as Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Stephanie, come on, think about it, one month into our relationship, do you think you were ready to marry me?"

"If you'd asked, I would've said yes," Stephanie told him.

"Oh come on," he scoffed. "You absolutely would not have. And Maryn is only 28, what does she even know about being married, huh?"

"Only 28, Christopher," Stephanie started. "We got married when I was 26 so you've got no room to talk on that front. Yeah, she's your little sister, I get that you're protective, but at some point, you're just going to have to be a brother and not big, scary big brother, okay?"

"No, you never grow out of that, ever, not even when she's married and completely _rushing_ into the decision."

"Okay, shut up because they're heading over here, okay, I don't want to hear word one about what you think about the length of time they've been together, you better be nice to them, do you understand me, you better be nice."

"And if I'm not?" he challenged.

"Do you really want to go toe-to-toe with me on this one? Is this really a cause you want to fight for?" Stephanie asked him. "Because I will fight you on it, but this is your sister's wedding and my brother's wedding and I'll be damned if you bring either one down."

"Fine," he said grudgingly. "But only because I love you and I love my sister."

"Thank you," she said pointedly as Shane and Maryn walked over. Chris had to admit that despite his overall feelings about this wedding his sister looked absolutely beautiful. Her long blonde hair was pulled out of her face and hung in loose ringlets and her dress made her look like a princess. He was a proud big brother, but he just wished they would've waited a little while longer to get married. What was the rush anyways? She claimed she wasn't pregnant and since she was pretty thin he didn't think it was that, so why not wait a little while longer?

"Hey you guys," Maryn said brightly, her arm wrapped loosely around Shane's waist. "How's the party?"

"It's great," Stephanie said, grinning at the two of them. "You two look adorable."

"Yeah, we've usurped you as the newly married couple," Maryn told her.

"We've been married for six years," Chris said drolly as Stephanie elbowed him in the gut.

"Don't listen to him, I'm so happy for you two," Stephanie said, stepping forward and hugging her brother and her sister-in-law. "Everything has been so beautiful and you guys look great. We didn't really get a chance to talk after the ceremony, but it was beautiful and Mar, you look gorgeous in your dress."

"Thanks, Steph," Maryn told her, smoothing out an invisible wrinkle in her dress. "Isn't it weird now, we're like sisters-in-law still, but it's like doubly so. It's like we're really sisters or something. I really did want a sister, but when Chris had his long hair and I squinted, I could usually pretend."

"Very funny, _Maryn_," Chris said, grabbing her and giving her a hug. "You do look beautiful, my wife was right."

"She's the most beautiful girl in the room," Shane interjected and Maryn practically glowed from the comment.

"Thanks, big bro," Maryn said, hugging him back. "Are you having fun?"

Stephanie looked at Chris pointedly, telling him with her eyes not to be an asshole to his sister. "Yeah, I'm having a great time, it's been a really great time, me and Stephanie are having a blast. Best wedding since our own."

"I only wish Mom could have been here," Maryn sighed, but tried not to look down as Shane took her in his arms as if to comfort her. "I think that would've made the day completely perfect."

"I know," Chris said wistfully, "but I'm sure she would approve."

"I hope so," Maryn said. "I'm just really grateful that Linda has been such a great help. And you too, Stephanie."

"You're welcome, anything to help," Stephanie said. "You guys look so good together, I can just tell you are going to be so happy together. Now we really are just one, big happy family, I love it."

"Me too!" Maryn said and she wasn't sure if anything could bring her down on this day. That's how high on life she was right now. "We've got to go make the rounds, but we'll be back later, enjoy yourselves you guys, and Chris, you're allowed to crack a smile every now and then, alright? I'm married now, you don't have to worry about me anymore, that's Shane's job now."

"Yeah, I'm going to be the one taking care of her," Shane said, kissing her temple.

"You're officially off the clock, big brother," Maryn said, punching Chris lightly in the stomach. "We'll see you guys in a bit, Shane and I are going to cut the wedding cake soon and you better get a slice, oh, and bring a couple for the girls to have tomorrow."

"I don't think I want to see Murphy on cake," Stephanie joked. "She hasn't had any since her birthday, she's got a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe and it makes her so hyper."

"Oh come on, it's my wedding, give her the cake!" Maryn exclaimed as Shane led her away.

"She looks happy, wouldn't you say?" Stephanie asked, turning to Chris, but he was scowling. "Okay, what are you going to complain about now, Irvine?"

"Did you hear her? Not have to worry about her anymore, I'm officially off the clock, like I can just turn it off like _that_," he said bitterly.

"She was joking. She's just saying that now she has Shane to protect her. She wasn't saying that she didn't want to be your sister anymore, seriously, stop taking everything so literally, please. You're getting to be very annoying in your old age."

"Shut up, Irvine," he told her and she grabbed him by the waist and started dancing against him again. "I'm still going to worry about her."

"Of course you are, you're her brother."

"And _your_ brother better live up to his word."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone! Glad you liked the first chapter. Still trying to get a feel for the story and I'm not entirely sure where it's headed so I'm just along for the ride. Hope you like this chapter and reviews are appreciated if you feel like leaving one. :)

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"Are you actually checking your watch?"

"I'm just checking on the time," Chris said. "Is that a crime now, to look at one's watch? Maybe I was trying to see how much time we had before the show, did you think of that?"

"You're so defensive," Stephanie said, standing up and going over to stand behind where Chris was sitting. She placed her hands on his shoulders and started to knead at them. She could feel his tenseness and she tried to ease it from his body, working on every knot she felt. Chris leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment in ecstasy before he opened them to get an upside-down look at his wife.

"I'm so lucky that you are in this company. How do the guys do it whose wives aren't here?" he asked.

"I do not know how you got so lucky," Stephanie said, grinning down at him. "Why the hell are you so tense?"

"Well, for one, my sister and my old-new brother-in-law were supposed to be back from their honeymoon hours ago. Didn't your brother say that he would be here for the afternoon meeting and that meeting has come and gone without any kind of indication as to where they've been."

"Did you have any business that you needed to deal with, with my brother?" Stephanie asked, racking her brain trying to think of any lingering business that her husband and brother might have. "If it's something related to media, you can always talk to me about it and I'll relay it to him, or approve it myself. Even if it's something stupid like you want the picture changed on your profile page."

"No, well, yeah, actually, if you could do that. I just want them back, you know, both of them, kind of miss my sister."

"Aren't you cute?" Stephanie said, hugging him around the neck. "I'm sure that they're fine."

"It's just not like her to not call."

"Stop being her dad," she told him. "It's not a very becoming look on you. The girl is a grown woman _on her honeymoon_. Give her a break. They're probably having a ton of fun where they are. Hell, maybe they didn't want to leave. I know when we were on _our_ honeymoon you didn't want to leave. I think I remember you saying that you wanted to spend the rest of your life living like we were on our honeymoon."

Chris smirked and turned his head slightly to capture her lips. "Well, I like to think that we kind of have kept that spark in our relationship."

"I think we have," Stephanie agreed, "toned down of course since we have two children now, but I think that a lot of that spark is still with us, yes."

"Good," he said, grabbing her hand. "I guess it's plausible that they were so caught up that they didn't want to leave. Still you think they could've called to tell us at least, just to let everyone know they weren't going to be here."

"When you own the place, sometimes you just do what you want, haven't you learned that already, Mr. Superstar of the Year."

"Hey, just because I wanted that doesn't mean that I didn't deserve it anyways."

"You only wanted it because you wanted me to present it to you," Stephanie said, coming around to sit on his lap. "I'm sure that our brother and sister are just having a great time."

"Doesn't that sound weird to you?" he asked. "I'm never getting used to that."

"You don't have to," she said, running her fingers through his hair. "Just as long as you accept them, then we're cool. If you start acting like a jerk, then you have to answer to me and you know you don't want to answer to me."

"I never want to answer to you."

Stephanie's phone rang just then and she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. She showed it to Chris for a moment and saw that it was his sister's cell phone. He grinned in relief. "Hey, Mar, what's going on? Where are you?"

"Hey, Stephanie," Maryn said on the other side of the phone. "Is Chris there with you?"

"Yeah, he's with me, he's sitting with me actually," she said, pulling away a little bit to speak to Chris, "she was asking if you were here."

"Hey, Mar, I'm right here," Chris said into the phone. Stephanie put her on speaker phone so they could both hear her. "Stephanie and I are just waiting for you guys to show up, you were supposed to be here earlier, did your flight get delayed or are you in the building or something."

"Actually, no, we're still in Greece," Maryn said. "We decided to stay for a little while longer. Um, Shane already delegated the work to some of his underlings and I'd already taken my two weeks vacation before the wedding so I'm still good. We just really like it here."

"I've heard it's beautiful there," Stephanie nodded. "Where's Shane?"

"He's lounging around," Maryn said with a laugh. "You know, just enjoying the weather since it's so beautiful here. Thank God for summer weddings, right?"

"I know," Stephanie said. "Well, when do you think you guys will be back?"

"I'm not sure, we're kind of feeling it out right now."

"Hey, Mar, you okay, your voice sounds kind of hoarse?" Chris interjected. It almost sounded like his sister was whispering. "Are you in a public place or something?"

"No," Maryn said. "I don't think you want to know why my voice is hoarse, Chris."

"What, I don't get it," he said and Stephanie snickered a little bit. Chris looked at her, his brow furrowed, he didn't get what she was saying. Stephanie just looked at him and he shrugged, not getting the reference. "Did you guys go to a concert or something?"

"No," Maryn said.

"I don't get what you mean."

"Chris," Stephanie said, looking at him, "_Chris_."

"What?" he said.

Stephanie leaned over and cupped her hand around his ear. "It means she's been screaming a lot."

"That's why I asked if she'd gone to…wait a second. Wait, no," he said, shaking his head. He looked at Stephanie and she gave him a pointed look. "Oh God, Maryn, eww, gross."

"Come on, Chris, we're not exactly prudes in the bedroom," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "We're all adults here, we can talk about sex."

"No, we can't, God, there are lines and this is one of them. You two are disgusting if you think this is okay," Chris said, his face harboring an incredibly sour look. Like he'd just eaten a lime followed by a lemon.

"Sorry," Maryn said. "Anyways, that's just what I wanted to say. We're going to be a little ways, we just want more time together. I hope everyone understands. I hope your dad won't be too pissed off, Steph."

"I'll calm him down if he has a hissyfit. You guys just have fun and we'll see you when we get back," Stephanie said. "We love you guys."

"We love you too," Maryn said. "Bye, Chris."

"Bye, Mar," Chris said as Stephanie hung up the phone. "Why do you have to bring up sex?"

"If I'm correct, it was _you_ that brought it up with asking her what was wrong with her voice."

"Didn't it sound weird though, like she could barely talk? How much screaming does a person have to do to get like that. It was weird, I didn't like the sound of it, what if she's getting sick and she gets real sick and she's in a foreign country and doesn't know how to get to a hospital? What if Shane is out and she faints or something?"

"I doubt that's going to happen. She didn't sound sick," Stephanie told him. "You're being overprotective again. "Chris, I'm telling you, you need to cut this out. She's a grown, _married_ woman now and if her voice is hoarse then just accept that it's hoarse, okay? You don't need to send an Inquisition to find out what's wrong. Next thing I know I'm going to get a call from my credit card company asking why I have a charge for a first class flight to Greece and if I authorized that."

"I'm not going to fly to Greece, I don't even know where they're staying."

"Like you wouldn't use some McMahon trickery to find out that information. Probably just get an itinerary and find them."

"I'm not going to do that. I just hope she's not sick, that's all," he said. "You really think your brother is good enough for her?"

"Chris, what do you have against my brother?" Stephanie asked. "We've been together for many, many years now, we have two kids together, we're happily married, you like my parents, you like my _dad_, which says a lot about you, first off that you're absolutely insane, but for some reason, in all the years of our conjoined lives, you've never even attempted to get close to my brother. Now, for the most part, I've ignored this chasm between you guys because you're both very different. I know your group of friends and they're nothing like my brother and I'm okay with you not liking my brother as a friend because you've always been polite and cordial with him, but now he's married to your sister, who I know you love and want to protect, so it's going to create kind of a problem for you. So spill."

"I've got nothing against your brother."

"That's a lie, don't give me that, don't act like I don't know your lying face," Stephanie said. "What is it about Shane you don't like?"

"I've just heard stuff about him," Chris said with a scowl. He hated that she could read his face and was using that against him now. "I just…when I first came into the company your entire family was amazing to me. Your dad obviously because he wanted my debut to be great and he was getting the chance to stick it to WCW so what wasn't to love? But your mom was super nice and you were…well, you know, you wanted in my pants from the moment you saw me, but your brother was a jerk."

"He was?"

"He acts like everyone is beneath him. It rubbed me the wrong way then and it still rubs me the wrong way and if he thought I wasn't good enough…Maryn's my sister, what if he doesn't think she's good enough?"

"He loves her though."

"So he says," Chris muttered.

"You have reason to doubt my brother's intentions?" Stephanie asked. "Really?"

"I've just heard stuff, I don't run in the same circles."

"Heard stuff like?"

"You _haven't_ heard stuff?"

"Who's going gossip with their boss about their boss's brother?" Stephanie asked sarcastically. "Think about that."

"They say he's slept with every diva and the ones who refused are the ones who leave," Chris said.

Stephanie started laughing. "And you _believe_ that? Oh, baby, come on. My brother is better than that. He's also more discreet about his love life. Come on. Don't fall into the trap of believing what you hear. You know wrestlers are a bunch of gossips."

"Yeah, sure," he said with a snort.

"Chris, I know my brother. I know how he operates. He's not like that. He loves your sister enough to marry her and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. I'm sure that even if he did sleep with _some _of the divas that it's over now because he's married. We all have our pasts, but it seems that his past got blown completely out of proportion. I think I know my brother."

"What if you don't though?"

"I know him, trust me," Stephanie said. "All the divas? When would he even have the time? He doesn't come to every show, maybe one show a month if that. There's no way that he's been doing every single diva. And don't you think that if one did refuse and was fired they would put up a stink about it? I don't think that'd be something they just hold in."

"I guess you're right," he said, ducking his head a little. It did sound outrageous when she put it like that. He was probably overreacting. Damn wrestlers, always telling half-truths and lies. "Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry."

"Thank you, as for him being a jerk, well, I can't argue completely against that because he is a bit of a jerk," she told him, kissing him lightly.

"Thanks for agreeing with that sentiment."

"But hey, who knows, maybe your sister will change him."

"Here's hoping."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Wow, thank you again for all the reviews! I'm glad people like this story, you'll have to thank the person who challenged me for it because she was the one with the idea, I just took it from that. Anyways, this chapter ended up being a LOT longer than I thought, but I really love it so I hope you love it too and if you want to let me know what you think, feel free. :)

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"Daddy!"

Aurora screamed and tore down the hallway. Chris followed a second later, his arms outstretched in front of him and his legs stiff as he pretended to be a monster. He growled and then groaned like Frankenstein. Aurora looked behind her and screamed and then continued to run down the hallway. Chris followed her, still growling at her every now and then, which always elicited a squeal from his daughter. She was running and looking behind her, not taking note of where she was going. Stephanie stepped out into the hallway and Aurora ran right into Stephanie's legs, falling down on her butt.

"Would you two watch where you're going," Stephanie told the both of them. Aurora looked up at her and smiled and Stephanie rolled her eyes. Aurora's smile was Chris's smile, which meant there was a ton of mischief behind it, but innocence on the surface.

"Daddy's a monster," Aurora told her mother matter-of-factly.

Chris came up to them and groaned as he reached down to grab Aurora. She screamed as Chris picked her up. "Brains, brains, I want _brains_!"

"No, Daddy, no!" Aurora yelled, trying to pull away from Chris. "Help, Mommy!"

"I'm sorry, little girl, you're on your own," Stephanie said, winking at her. "I don't want to have to deal with Daddy right now."

"What?" Chris said, dropping the monster act. He threw Aurora up in the air and she squealed before he caught her effortlessly and then held her under his arm like she was a sack. Aurora couldn't stop giggling. She was such a Daddy's girl and had been since the day she was born. Even when she was an infant, she would cry and cry until she saw Chris's face. Stephanie had never seen a baby so attached to her father before, but that's what Aurora was. She idolized Chris and it was lucky for him because he adored his little girl.

Murphy, on the other hand, was a very serious, little girl. She was always thoughtful and thinking. She liked pretty much everyone, but she'd have to get to know you first. She was very distrustful of new people, but once she realized a person was cool, she was cool with them and would give them one of her smiles, which was reward in and of itself. It was not easy to get one of Murphy's smiles.

"I don't want to deal with you."

"Why not? What have I done now?" Chris asked, holding Aurora by the back of her overalls and swinging her back and forth in the air. She loved it and just let herself dangle from his hand. She was light for a guy like him so she knew he wouldn't drop her.

"Yeah, what has Daddy done now?" Aurora parroted from where she was hanging, trying to lift her head up to look at Stephanie.

"Do you see this house? Do you see how big this house is?" Stephanie asked, gesturing around. "I think you do and yet, look at me, cleaning this house, while you play around with the kids all the time."

"I'm helping _you_ by taking care of _them_," Chris reasoned.

"Oh yeah, that might work if you actually did something except act like a big kid."

"We're all kids at heart," he said, leaning forward to kiss her.

"We're having company over tonight," Stephanie pointed out. "I want the house to look nice and you're walking around pretending to be, what are you pretending to be?"

"I was going for a Frankenstein zombie," he answered.

"Oh, wonderful, why don't you tell our 3 year old daughter a little more about zombies so she has to sleep with us for the next six months," Stephanie told him. Chris laughed and leaned forward to kiss her again. "Chris, I'm not joking around with you." Still though, she couldn't keep a smile from coming to her face.

"I'm not going to tell her about zombies," he mumbled against her lips.

Stephanie rolled her eyes, but when Chris tried to pull away, she pressed her hand to the back of his neck and deepened the kiss. He stepped up a little closer and luckily for Aurora he could multi-task so she didn't fall to the floor as his kisses got a little more involved with his wife. Stephanie finally pulled away when she was satisfied and she sighed slightly before she opened her eyes and looked at her husband. She laughed at the look on his face, which looked like he was _very_ satisfied, but would be more satisfied with a little bit more.

"You better not, but you should be helping me make the house look presentable."

"It's only Maryn and Shane coming over, which, it's about damn time they came home. I can't believe they spent an extra _two _weeks in Greece. We never just flitted off to some other country when we were newlyweds, no, but they just stay for three weeks. I just don't get it."

"They're not us, we're not them," Stephanie said. "Besides, both of us wanted to get back to work…what that says about us, I don't know, maybe we're just workaholics and our siblings are the slackers."

"Or we really just hate each other and wanted to get back as soon as possible?"

"No, no, I like you, so I don't think that's it," she said. "Besides, they seemed to have had fun and they deserve it. Shane works hard and Maryn works hard too. I'm sure her body is better off for all the rest she got."

"We work hard, who works harder than you do, tell me?"

"You," she told him, poking him in the chin with her finger. "Between your wrestling and working on your book, then your album coming out and all that promotion you're doing. You're the one who's really stretched thin, leaving us like you are. We're just three girls all by our lonesome."

"You know I come home as often as I can. I don't think someone would forgive me if I didn't come home whenever I could," he said, pointing down to Aurora. He lifted her up and shifted her so he could hold her.

"Whatever, I just want the house to look presentable."

"They're family, you don't have to make your house nice for family," Chris said. He wrapped his arm around Stephanie's waist and pulled her closer. "Come on, Steph, lighten up. It's just your brother and my sister, they're nobody special."

"Why do I let you talk me into things so much? First dating you--"

"You wanted to date me, you were the one that asked _me_ out, remember? You were the one who was so desperate to get some Irvine-lovin' that you came up to me and asked me out."

"I thought that I'd lose the opportunity if I didn't ask and good thing I did because who asked you out the very next day, thinking you were still on the market?"

"Tori," Chris responded.

"Yes, and can you imagine being with her for the rest of your life?"

"Well…"

"Then there was marrying you--"

"Hey, again, you wanted all of this," Chris said, gesturing towards himself. "So don't be complaining now about any of this because you wanted it."

"I think I was temporarily insane that day," she told him. "Rora, you want to go downstairs and watch a video?"

"No, I wanna stay with Daddy," Aurora told her, clinging harder to Chris. She didn't want to leave her daddy. "He was gone."

"He was gone for one day, you big baby," Stephanie joked, leaning over to kiss Aurora on the cheek. Aurora scrunched up her face and laughed, leaning her head against Chris's collarbone. "Why don't you ask Daddy to watch with you then?"

"Daddy, will you watch?"

"Sure, of course I will," Chris said. "We're headed downstairs, is Murph down there in her playpen?"

"Yeah, she should be in there, but she's getting too big for that thing, Chris, she's already trying to climb out and I'm afraid she'll tip it over and get hurt, I think we're going to have to put it in storage for now."

"Damn," Chris said. "Okay, well, I'll head down there and make sure she hasn't conked herself out with the playpen."

Chris went downstairs and when he reached the bottom step, he let Aurora down. She screamed, as she was wont to do, and started running towards the living room. Chris chased after her and she screamed again, circling into the kitchen and then in through the dining room, Chris following slowly and making her think she could actually outrun him when he could probably cover the space between them in two steps, if that. He grabbed her and tossed her up in the air again and then caught her, blowing a raspberry against her cheek. The doorbell rang and Chris looked and could see his sister and Shane through the colored glass of their front door.

"Finally," he muttered to himself as he put Aurora down. "Let's go see who's at the door, Rora."

"Who's there, Daddy?"

"I think it's a surprise," he said as they got there and he opened the door.

"Auntie Maryn, Uncle Shane!" Aurora yelled.

Maryn knelt down and scooped up her niece and lifted her up easily, kissing her cheek. "There's my Rora-Bora, how are you, beautiful girl?"

"I'm good, Daddy and I were playing and he was a monster."

"Well, when I was growing up, he was a monster to me too, so I know the feeling," Maryn said, hugging Aurora a little closer. "Where's Murph the Turf?"

Aurora giggled. Her aunt had the funniest names for everyone. "She's in there in her pen."

"Chris, are you keeping your daughters locked up like sheep again?" Maryn asked. "I know you think all your fans are sheep, but this is getting ridiculous."

"Very funny," Chris said, leaning forward to get a hug from his sister. She kissed him on the cheek as he pulled away. "It's about time you two got home, do you know how long you've been gone? I mean, seriously, Maryn, you guys took a three-week honeymoon."

"Shane said it was fine because we own the company," Maryn said, winking at Shane, who smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her waist, leaning over to kiss her temple. "He said that we could do whatever we wanted and we wanted to stay for a couple extra weeks, I think we're entitled to, being newlyweds."

That was one of the biggest differences between Shane and Stephanie. While Chris didn't hang out with Shane all the time, he was part of his family so his habits hadn't gone completely unnoticed. While Stephanie was incredibly thankful for everything her parents had, she wasn't satisfied resting on her laurels. She didn't want to be known as Stephanie McMahon, boss's daughter. She knew she would always _hold_ the moniker, but that wasn't what she wanted people to see when they saw her. She worked hard, damn hard, and that's why her father had entrusted her with so much of the company and why Linda had privately told Stephanie that when (or if depending on the day) Vince retired, Stephanie would become the President of the company, the _sole_ president of the company.

She didn't go around acting like she was better because she had some money. She didn't want any money she didn't earn. Shane, on the other hand, was perfectly content to flaunt around the McMahon name. On his first date with Stephanie, she'd made it very clear to him that if he had accepted her invitation for a date that it did not mean, under any circumstances, that she would give him preferential treatment and if he'd thought that, he should leave before they started something. He'd been surprised, but told her that he'd never had any intention of asking her for that. After that, it had been smooth sailing. Shane loved to use his name to get what he wanted. He would go to concerts, go to boxing matches, restaurants and he'd drop his last name to get the preferential VIP treatment.

Stephanie also did three times the work he did. While Shane did hold an Executive VP position, it was in an area that required far less work than Stephanie's did. Shane was content to let the underlings do the work for him while he was off spending Daddy's money. Stephanie was in her work 100%. She was constantly up late, looking over scripts, logistically finding ways for people to feud. She was lucky he was a night owl by trade because otherwise, he would hate her for having the lights on and papers strewn about the bed as she sat there. Sometimes he'd help her write, sometimes he'd book matches. But the fact remained, Shane was just content with where he was while Stephanie had all the drive in the world.

Stephanie and he had had a great honeymoon, but they'd known when it was time to get back to work. Shane had decided that wasn't important enough for him. Fine, whatever, as long as he made his sister happy, Chris supposed. "Yeah, I guess, but still, you know, the company does have things it needs to do. Stephanie was going to start you in a whole new storyline and--"

"Lighten up, big brother," Maryn said, reaching forward to pinch his cheek. He pulled away huffily. "I called Stephanie and she said she could just postpone the storyline."

"I don't know why you want to keep wrestling," Shane said. "You know you don't have to, right?"

"Of course I know I don't _have_ to," Maryn told him, "but I want to, it's what I love to do and I want to get back to that."

"Maryn! Shane!" Stephanie said from the top of the stairs, "I thought I heard voices."

"They finally decided to come back to the real world," Chris said as Stephanie descended the steps. "But who knows, maybe you guys will just jump on over to Japan or something tomorrow and screw Stephanie over again."

"Chris, stop, they're allowed," Stephanie said, giving him a sidelong glare before hugging her sister-in-law. She pulled away and looked her up and down. "Wow, you look so relaxed and wonderful. Marriage does wonders for you."

Maryn laughed and glanced adoringly at Shane. "I like to think it has, but it's only been three weeks."

"A great three weeks," Shane said and Chris just glared at him. Stephanie looked over her shoulder and reached out to punch Chris in the side. He glared at her and she glared back at him.

"It's good to see you too, Shane, did you have a good time?" Chris asked grudgingly. He'd been with Stephanie for nearly a decade and he knew her look to make sure that he wasn't a jerk to her brother. It wasn't that he _deliberately_ tried to be a jerk to Shane, it was just they had nothing in common but family.

"Yeah, it was great, Mar and I had the best time."

"We did," Maryn said. "You two should get away sometime. Just take the girls and go on a vacation, go to Greece, it's lovely there, just being on the water and everything is beautiful and historical and God, I feel like I spent the past three weeks in paradise."

"Sounds nice," Chris said.

"Come on in, you guys, you'll have to excuse the mess, I tried to clean up, but my husband was off playing and wasn't helping," Stephanie joked as she lead them into the living room. Murphy was standing in her playpen, like she sensed she was missing out on the action. Maryn put Aurora down and then went over to Murphy and picked her up.

"Hey there Murph the Turf," Maryn said. "Did you miss your very favorite aunt in the entire universe?"

"You're her only aunt," Chris pointed out.

"Don't ruin my chances of being picked first," Maryn said as she sat on the couch. "I've missed all you guys so much. The one bad thing about going on vacation is you miss everyone that you love, plus the whole language barrier thing, but we were pretty good about it, except the one time we got lost and…oh my God, it was crazy, wasn't it, Shane?"

He laughed a little, "Yeah, with the cab driver, Aftonio, and the woman with the goat who wouldn't move."

"Oh, it was crazy, see, we were driving and oh, it would just take too long and it was a 'you had to be there' type of thing," she laughed. Chris couldn't understand why Maryn, who was so outgoing and lively would be with someone like Shane, who was just…dowdy, dull, lifeless. Maryn was looking at Murphy. "Did she get bigger, did you get bigger, Murph? I think you did, sweetheart, I think you did."

"I got bigger!" Aurora announced to her aunt, leaning on her legs.

"I know, I mean, look at you, you're practically a grown woman," Maryn told her and Aurora absolutely glowed from the praise.

"Uncle Shane, I'm a woman!" Aurora said, turning to him.

"I heard," he told her as his phone rang in his pocket. He picked it out and looked at it. "Oh, sorry, guys, I have to take this, business."

"It's okay," Maryn said, "I've got to catch up with my family."

Shane left the room and Stephanie turned to the girl she considered her sister. "So what else did you guys do?"

"Oh man, we went on some historical tours, amazing, it brought out the geek in me," she giggled, "but what's been going on with the show? We weren't able to watch it, I would check out all the videos online of course, just to know the gist of everything, but I haven't been able to follow completely and it's been annoying! This is my business! Wow, I just realized it actually _is_ my business now, I feel so important. I don't know if the McMahon family is ready for me."

"If we were ready for that guy," Stephanie said, pointing at Chris, "we're definitely ready for you."

"I resent that," Chris said.

"You would," she told him.

"I'm going to get some drinks," Chris said, "Mar, you want anything?"

"Um, screwdriver?"

"Okay, Steph?"

"Just water, I've got to start on dinner soon and I don't want to be tipsy and cooking," Stephanie laughed. "Ask Shane what he wants while you're up."

"Fine," he grumbled as he walked out of the room. He made a right turn, trying to follow Shane's voice. He could hear him, but their house was so large that it was easy to find a place where you could be heard but not seen, they'd found out that fact the hard way when Aurora had first learned to walk. They didn't expect it and one minute, she was off toddling somewhere and they'd looked frantically for her before finding her behind a couch in the library. The library, that's probably where Shane was hiding.

He walked inside and saw Shane, back turned towards him and on the phone. "No, it's okay, I promise that I will come see you tomorrow, okay?" Chris cleared his throat, but Shane didn't hear. "Look, yes, I know it's important, I _know_ this, but I'm with my _wife_, okay, we just got back…no, no, no, I know, yes, you are important, yes, no, I'm not. I will see you tomorrow."

Chris cleared his throat a little louder and then said, "Shane?"

Shane looked up, startled that someone else was there. "Jesus, Chris, kill a guy, will you?" he told him. "Hold on, let me finish my call." Shane turned back to the phone. "Yes, I will have the meeting tomorrow, God, okay, I will see you then."

"Tough call?" Chris asked.

"Sometimes business people suck," Shane said.

"I don't involve myself with that part of the business," Chris told him. "I came in here to ask if you wanted anything to drink?"

"You have beer?"

"Yeah, we have some Fat Tire and some Guinness."

"I'll have the Fat Tire," Shane told him and Chris nodded.

"You know, with how fast you married my sister, I never really got to have the talk with you," Chris said, leaning in the doorway, effectively blocking out Shane's only means of escape, unless he wanted to throw himself through the bay windows that were right behind him. "You know, the big brother to his sister's fiancé type of talk."

"So now you're going to talk to me?" Shane asked. "I don't recall having this talk when you married my sister."

"Well, have I ever given you any indication that I don't treat your sister like the queen she believes she is?" Chris asked, almost daring Shane to say something about his marriage to Stephanie. Were he and Stephanie perfect? No, of course they weren't, they had their fights, sometimes big ones that made their houses silent save for their daughters' voices, but their marriage was strong.

"Well, you did leave for a while, she wasn't too happy with you then," Shane pointed out.

Chris rolled his eyes, "It was her idea for me to take some time off, the only point of contention was when I came back. She wanted it sooner. Anyways, I'm going to tell you right now, if you ever, _ever_ hurt my sister, in any way, I will make you pay. And I will make you hurt and I know you're thinking, 'Hey, I'm your wife's brother,' and that may be so and God help me, I love your sister more than I ever thought I could imagine loving someone and yes, we have two children and you and me, we've been family for years, but this is between you and me, not, you, me, and Stephanie. You hurt my sister, I make you pay, that's the long and short of it."

"Look, my marriage is my marriage, I don't interfere with your marriage to Stephanie."

"I'm just telling you, that's all, consider it a fair warning," Chris shrugged. "So Fat Tire it was then?"

"Yeah," Shane said, his voice trailing off.

"Then one beer it is."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, everyone, I'm glad you're liking the story thus far and that I'm doing okay with the OC since I'm not really used to using them. Hope I'm doing the challenge proud. So enjoy this chapter and if you want to review, go right ahead. Oh, and in case you read my stuff, I have a new joint story with StephanieIrvine (Jodi) called "Infected" so check it out if you want to. :)

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"So my brother told me that you had a talk with him?"

Chris looked up from where he'd been swinging Murphy back and forth. She was tired of walking around so he was swinging her up and then down again, much to her delight. "What are you talking about?"

"I was talking with him earlier during the production meeting and-"

"Did your dad know that you two were talking while he was holding a meeting, you know your dad frowns on things like that, I can't believe _you_ would talk while work was going on."

She shook her head, "Don't try and pull that with me, I know you too well for that. My brother was telling me that when he and Maryn came over for dinner the other night that you threatened him. Did you threaten my brother?"

"Yes, I did," Chris said defiantly, staring her straight in the eye.

"What have I told you about your sister and Shane?" Stephanie told him. Chris ignored her and looked down to Murphy and made a silly face. Murphy smiled at him, but she wasn't much of a giggler like her sister, who was with her aunt at the moment. Aurora loved to watch the divas practicing before the show and Maryn always let her come in the ring afterwards. Stephanie placed her hand on Chris's shoulder. "Don't ignore me."

"I'm not ignoring you."

"Then what have I told you?"

Chris looked up at Stephanie, straightening his back and lifting Murphy into his arms, cradling her to his body. "Stephanie, I didn't _threaten_ him."

"What did you say then? Why would my brother say you threatened him if you didn't? Are you calling my brother a _liar_?" she wondered.

Chris rolled his eyes, "I told him that if he ever hurt my sister, I would hurt him."

"And you don't think that's a threat?" Stephanie asked, raising her eyebrow. She loved her husband very much, but he was very much a doer and not a thinker. He always went barrel first into the things he did. It aided in his success, but it also aided in his flaws. Sometimes he just did things without thinking and it would come back to bite him in the ass later.

"No, I don't think that's a threat. I think it's a warning. Stephanie, if your brother hurts my sister, I don't give a damn _who_ he is, he will be dead and I will pound him in the face and anywhere else my fists see fit to fall."

"Chris, stay out of it!" Stephanie told him again and he looked off, but Stephanie grabbed his chin and made him look at her. "Chris, do you understand me?"

"No, I don't understand you because I don't care what you say. If your brother hurts my sister, I will make him pay and if _your_ brother were any kind of man, he would've issued the same warning to me," Chris said.

"Well, maybe my brother trusts you enough to know that you wouldn't hurt me."

"He's a fool then."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean? That you plan on hurting me at some point in our marriage and that Shane should have warned you so that you either wouldn't do it or know the consequences of what you do?" Stephanie asked curiously.

"You know that's not what I meant," he scowled.

"If you do not stop with this stuff with my brother and your sister, you _will_ wish that someone had warned you from _me_," she told him. "Now, leave them alone. They're married, you are not in that marriage, so stay out of it!"

"I am out of it."

"Telling my brother that he better watch out is not staying out of it."

"It's just a warning! Brothers do it all the time, all over the world, Stephanie. Just because your brother is one of the bad ones that doesn't do things like that isn't my fault. He should've been warning guys left and right because you're amazing and though I didn't know you when you were in high school or college I imagine you were amazing then too so he should've been off-the-charts warning guys not to mess with you!"

She couldn't help it, she found that absolutely sweet, but she was still mad at him. "You're a jerk, but I love you."

He shrugged. "You are amazing."

She blushed a little, "Why can't I ever stay mad at you?"

"It's the unending charm, I think," Chris said. "Look, your brother and I will not have a problem if he doesn't hurt my sister, but it's my job to be worried and it was just a warning. I'm not planning on doing anything about it unless he does something about it."

"I thought we discussed the rumor thing."

"What rumor thing?" Maryn asked, coming up to them with Aurora in tow. Aurora's hair was mussed up and her clothes crinkled, but she had an exuberant smile on her face. Maryn must have let her run around the ring. She ran up to her daddy and upon seeing her sister being held, decided that she needed to be held as well. She tugged on Chris's jeans and he leaned down to lift her up and hold her in his other arm. Another set of arms were wrapped around his neck and if they weren't his daughters, he might think he was being choked out from their small grips.

"Nothing," Stephanie said. "We were just talking about the latest piece of gossip."

"Which is?" Maryn asked. "Don't keep me out of the loop."

"Just something about how…um, Evan…he was hitting on some chick and she turned out to be a guy and yeah, that's the rumor going around, don't know if it's true or not, but you know how gossip goes," Chris lied, nodding his head and looking at Stephanie. She was trying to keep her snickers in, but that story was too hilarious for words.

"Ouch, I hope that's just a rumor because he'll never live it down if it's not," Maryn said with a laugh. "Though I'm sure that if it's true he was a fine-looking lady."

Chris laughed, "You know it."

"Hey guys," a new voice said. Maryn's face lit up at the sight of her husband and she hugged him as he approached. He gave her a hug back and then kissed her on the cheek. Maryn, who didn't care about public image, brought his face back to her and kissed him properly. Shane, obviously uncomfortable with the display, pulled away sheepishly and looked around like everyone was staring at him.

Sometimes it just struck Chris hard how different Shane and Stephanie were. Stephanie would kiss him whenever she felt the mood strike her and she didn't care who was watching. Stephanie was just a much freer spirit than Shane was. He looked over at his wife, who was looking over something on her to do list. Shane was whispering something to Maryn and it struck him again how different they were. He just could not stand anything about his sister's husband and his wife's brother. There was just something so sleazy about Shane that Chris couldn't put his finger on.

"Sorry I have to make this short, baby, but I have an important meeting," Shane said, kissing her on the forehead. "It was nice seeing you guys, bye."

"Well he sure rushed out of here," Chris said as he watched his brother-in-law walking away. "Guess he had more important things to do."

"He works here, of course he has stuff to do," Stephanie said, not even looking up at him.

"Just saying."

"Let's not get into this again," Stephanie said, forgetting Maryn was right there. Chris had forgotten she was standing there as well and looked between the two of them.

"What are you two talking about?" Maryn asked. "Get into what again? Were you…talking about me and Shane?"

"What?" Chris asked, pretending to be shocked, "No, why would we do that?"

"Don't lie, goober, what were you saying about me and Shane?" Maryn demanded to know, her hands on her hips as she looked between her sister-in-law and brother. "And obviously this has come up before? So what's going on?"

"Nothing," Chris said. "What's that, Rora, you want to go eat?"

"I didn't say anything, Daddy," Aurora said.

"Work with me here, kid," Chris said, kissing her cheek playfully. "I guess it must've been Murphy who was saying that to me. I better go take them, Steph, would you like to join me for dinner?"

"I would, thank you," Stephanie said cordially.

"Uh uh, no," Maryn said, grabbing them both. "What were you saying about me and Shane? I want to know, so what is it?"

"Your brother threatened Shane," Stephanie said, then gave a smug look to Chris. He started frowning and shook his head. Leave it to his wife to sell him out. "I just didn't want him to get started with that malarkey again."

"You _threatened_ my husband?" Maryn scoffed. "You better explain yourself, Christopher Keith Irvine. You forget that I have _tons_ of dirt on you and I would not hesitate to let some of it 'leak' and ruin you."

"I didn't threaten anyone!" Chris exclaimed defensively. "I told Shane not to hurt you, that's _it_! It's a fair warning! That's all!"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because…"

"Chris," Stephanie warned, shaking his head. This was neither the time nor the place for Chris to vent his frustrations about Shane and least of all to the man's wife, no matter what part she played in Chris's life. It was one thing to vent to his wife, though Stephanie was Shane's sister, but an entirely different thing to air those feelings to Maryn.

"No, Stephanie, don't try and hold it in, I want to know what you think, Chris?" Maryn said and she was seething now.

"Maryn, I just…had my concerns with the whole…quickness of your wedding, that's all," Chris said. "I just want what's best for you, that's all. It's nothing against Shane, I just worry about you."

She sighed. Chris was a good brother and she loved him. "Chris, Shane loves me."

"Yeah," Chris mumbled.

"Chris, you know he does, deep down in that stubborn head, you know it."

"Yeah, I guess," Chris said.

"Is this about those stupid rumors and whatever that go around about him and all the divas?" Maryn asked. Chris looked at her, surprised that she could know about that. Maryn nodded, "Yes, I know all about those. I knew before we started dating and I addressed it with him and they are just that, rumors and hearsay."

"Told you," Stephanie chimed in and Chris glared at her.

"Things between me and Shane are great, I love him," Maryn said. "So you don't need to go issuing any warnings or threats to him. I'm not asking you to stay out of our lives because even if I did, you wouldn't listen and you'd get even more aggressive, but instead of talking amongst yourselves, just bring them to me. I'm a big girl, Chris, I can handle things like this."

"I know you're a big girl, I've had to watch you grow up so I know."

"Good, so don't worry about me, really," she said, leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I appreciate it, Chrissy, but I can handle myself."

"He doesn't deserve you, Mar."

"Chris, you don't think anyone deserves me," she joked. "But you were going to have to let me go at some point. Steph, you know this guy actually followed me on my first date. It was a trip to the mall and me and this guy, Dustin, I think his name was, were going to hang out and then go see a movie at the theater there. So we're in the movie and I look behind me and there, four rows back is Chris, watching us."

"Oh sweetie," Stephanie said as Chris pouted.

"I was so embarrassed, luckily the guy didn't find out, but I chewed him out later."

"I would've loved to have seen that."

"Yeah, you haven't lived until you've seen a 13 year old girl chewing out her brother," Maryn said. "I get that you worry, Chrissy, but Shane is good to me and good _for_ me. Don't worry, over time you'll learn. I'll see you guys later, I've got to plan my match against Eve. Later, Rora-Bora, next time, Murph the Turf, it's you and me in a match."

"Okay," Murphy said and Maryn winked at her before leaving.

"Now are you satisfied?" Stephanie asked.

"No," Chris said.

"No?" she rolled her eyes, "Why no?"

"Because I still don't think he deserves her."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Wow, I'm so crazy glad that you guys are enjoying this story, so thanks to the person who challenged me with it, you rock! Thank you all SO much for the reviews, I'm so happy and pleased. This chapter felt a little rushed to me for some reason so I hope that it comes across okay to you and review if you want, it'd be awesome if you did. Enjoy! :)

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"You're out of your mind."

"I don't think I am."

"No, no, pretty sure you're out of your mind," Chris said, shifting his head as Murphy tried to slap his face. Aurora was crawling over his lap as Stephanie sat on the other end of the couch. "Why are they all over me?"

"You're more climbable," Stephanie shrugged as she leaned her head on her hand as she watched her little girls climbing all over her husband. "I think this would be good for you two. You guys have never even given each other a chance."

"Have you seen me, have you seen your brother?" Chris asked her as Aurora pinched his cheeks. "Rora, what are you doing?"

"Daddy, you should wear lipstick," Aurora said, assessing his face.

Stephanie laughed, "You think Daddy should wear lipstick, Rora?"

"Yes, he would be pretty," Aurora said.

"I don't think I would," Chris said, "but as I was saying, me and Shane run in different circles, we always have. He has tee times and country clubs and I have rock concerts and bars. We just aren't the same…in fact, what the hell attracted you to me anyways because I'm not exactly your type either, Ms. Country Club Debutante."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "And yet I love you anyways. So see what I mean, you and Shane will probably get along if you just take the time to get to know each other a little better. You never did when it was just us because you just didn't have as much of a reason, but now that he's my brother _and_ your sister's husband, it's like you're obligated."

"I love how you conveniently dodged my question of attraction."

"I love how you conveniently dodged my suggestion that you and Shane will get along," she said and he raised an eyebrow. She smiled at him and then crawled over to the couch, kneeling next to him and leaning over to kiss him, ignoring how Murphy tried to push away from him. "I love you because you're a good man. I don't think there need be more than that."

"There should be more than that."

"Mmm," she mumbled against his lips. "You're a wonderful father and just an all-around amazing guy, is that what you want to hear?"

"More," he told her.

"Stop kissing," Aurora said, tucking herself into Chris's side. "He's my daddy, Mommy, he's not yours."

"Awfully possessive kids you have here, wherever did they get it from?"

"The woman whose lips are currently on mine, I'm guessing," he said then added, "I'm not hanging out with your brother or her husband."

"Chris," she whined, pulling away and taking Murphy with her, cradling the little girl to her chest as Murphy blew raspberries on her neck. "All I'm asking is for one night. Then you'll see how much Shane loves your sister and then you won't have anything to worry about anymore, okay?"

"You make it all sound so easy, but what the hell am I going to talk to your brother about?"

"The business, start with that or me, you can talk about how much I annoy you and he can talk about how much I annoyed him growing up, you can turn it into a Stephanie McMahon-Irvine hater's club for all I care."

"Why _do_ you care so much?" Chris wondered.

Stephanie sighed and leaned her head against the back of the couch. She rubbed Murphy's back for a second and then looked at him. "I guess it's a number of reasons. You've never really tried with Shane and I mean, that's fine, you don't have to, but now he's your brother-in-law by Maryn and I don't know, I just…do you remember right after we started dating, what I did with Maryn?"

"You puked on her," Chris said.

"Eww, puke!" Aurora said, making a face. "Mommy, you puked on Auntie Maryn?"

"Chris, see what you've done."

"You puked on her, I can't change history…though I probably should have warned you not to drive with her because she tends to really jerk to a stop and then she goes really fast around curves…"

"I got carsick, it wasn't my fault, I'm just saying that what we did is what I'm asking you to do with my brother."

"You want me to puke on Shane?" Chris asked. "Well, if I have to, I guess I have to…"

Stephanie tilted her head and glared at him, "You know that's not what I meant. What I mean is that I made the effort to get to know your sister. I wanted to feel comfortable with your family."

"You really were kind of a bully about it. We'd only been dating for a few weeks and you were inviting my sister out, it was a little weird now that I think about it," he told her. Then he sighed and grabbed her hand with his free hand, "Okay, I'll go out with him, but the _only_ reason I'm doing this is because I love you so much. I don't like your brother and I probably won't ever like him, but I happen to like you a lot."

She grinned at him, "Now _this_ is why I'm so attracted to you."

"Because I'm your lap dog."

"Because you make me happy," Stephanie told him, squeezing his hand. "I know you don't want to, but you do it anyways."

"But I swear, this is only for you."

Chris was already bored and they'd been here five minutes. Maryn had been as thrilled as Stephanie when he called up his brother-in-law and invited him out for dinner. Chris figured that they could go to a bar and then get stinking drunk and then he could make it through a dinner. Just walking up to Shane he saw how different they were. Chris was wearing and a t-shirt and some faded jeans that were kind of frayed on the bottom from wear and some black boots, his sunglasses perched on his head. Shane was in a pair of khakis and a polo shirt. Chris scoffed a little as he saw him, then waved.

"Hey, man," Chris said with a nod.

"Hey," Shane said, "you want to grab a beer now."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Chris said, opening the door and pushing his way into the bar, which turned out to be a club. Shane had picked out the place and as soon as he walked in, he had a feeling there would be no dinner involved.

Chris liked clubs, don't get him wrong, he used to go club-hopping every weekend and then after shows. It was a way of life, you found a club after work and you hung out there until they kicked you out. It just felt odd being here without Stephanie or the guys. If he went to one of these places it was either with the guys _and_ Stephanie, with the guys, or with Stephanie. It was always a combination, it was never with someone who looked like they should be in a Gap ad. He leaned against the bar and surveyed the crowd, trying to calculate how much time he would have to spend here before he could duck out.

"So why'd you invite me out, you going to give me another one of your talks?" Shane asked over the din of the crowd.

"Your sister thought it would be nice if we spent some time together, you know, hanging out," Chris said, "and I know that Maryn is thrilled as well. We've never really gotten to know each other even though I've been with your sister for so long. So you know, maybe this is a chance to get to know you better."

He believed that sounded believable. "So…"

"So…that's what you wear when you're relaxing?" Chris asked, not able to resist asking.

"Yes, yes it is."

"Nice," Chris said, turning towards the bar and rolling his eyes, ordering himself another beer by signaling the bartender. "So how are you and Maryn doing?"

"We're doing fine."

"My sister is great, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she's really great, she's a pretty great woman."

"I know," Chris said. "She's always been the best. You guys thinking about having any kids or anything? I know Stephanie and I wanted to wait a while until we had children and I'm glad we did. I was glad for the time I got with her before we had the girls."

"We're probably going to wait," Shane answered. "I don't think I can imagine myself with kids right now and I know Maryn wants to continue to wrestle for a while, maybe until after she retires."

Chris couldn't imagine Shane with kids either. Maryn was a free spirt, like he was, but Shane was an uptight asshole and he couldn't imagine him putting up with late-night feedings or dirty diapers. Whatever kids they had would have an amazing mother and a less-than-par father. He wouldn't wish a lousy father like Shane on any kid, especially not one shared with his sister. He didn't wish unhappiness on his sister, but he just couldn't see how she was happy with Stephanie's brother. He just could not see it.

"Yeah, that's probably smart. That way you guys can devote more time to the kids you plan on having," Chris cringed. He just did not want his sister procreating with this guy.

"Aurora and Murphy are good kids."

"They're the _best_ kids," Chris corrected.

"Yeah, they're the best," Shane nodded as he sipped at his beer. They just continued to look out at the dance floor and the people dancing around. Chris thought this was absolutely brutal. "So are you glad to be back at work, I mean, I'm sure Greece was fun and all, but I know I'd want to get back."

"Probably because you're a workaholic," Shane told him and Chris didn't want to take that as an insult, but the way Shane said it, it definitely felt like an insult of some kind.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Chris asked.

"No, that's just how you and Stephanie are," Shane said. "That's why I was surprised when Aurora was born. You guys just seemed to love work."

Chris wanted to bite his tongue, just for his sister and Stephanie, but he couldn't do it, "We do like our work, yes, but that's because we actually _do_ work."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Chris said, nursing his beer. "It doesn't mean anything at all, just that Stephanie and I have always enjoyed the work that we do and when we work, we work hard. But that doesn't mean that we didn't want a family and we are very much involved in our daughters' lives."

"I know I understand," Shane said.

"I'll be back, I have to use the restroom," Chris said. If he stayed any longer, he might punch the man, brother-in-law or not. He wasn't going to come in here and mock his wife's work ethic when she did three times the work that Shane did. He went to the bathroom and debated pretending like Stephanie had called, but he hadn't even give this a try and he knew if he didn't at least try that Stephanie would make him go out again.

He walked out of the bathroom and back towards where he'd left Shane. He stopped before he got there though as he saw a girl talking with Shane. Shane was laughing and leaning in and telling something to the girl, something that made her laugh. His eyes narrowed as he watched the two of them. If he didn't know better, Shane was flirting with this girl, but surely his eyes were deceiving him. Shane was married to his sister and surely he wouldn't be flirting or hitting on some girl. He started to stalk over there, pushing past people carelessly, not caring when they snapped at him.

Shane seemed to see him and said something to the girl and she smiled at left. Chris watched her go and then looked at his brother-in-law, "What the hell was that?" Chris asked.

"She was just talking to me while she got a drink," Shane said. "She asked if I came in here often, but I said that this was my first time, you know, just idle chit-chat while she waited and everything."

Chris wanted to believe Shane, he really did, but that didn't look like idle chit-chat. But he couldn't assume. He just couldn't assume with something like this. He really hadn't heard their conversation so saying that they were flirting could be totally wrong and then he would be hurting people. He would let it go this time, but next time, he would find out just what was going on. He didn't trust Shane and if he ever found out he was two-timing his sister then he would not hesitate to use his _real_ fighting skills on Shane. Working his way up in the wrestling business had taught him how to fight.

"That was nice of you, she was pretty," Chris said, nodding his head and grabbing his beer again. Stinking drunk it was.

"Yeah, but not as pretty as Maryn," Shane said.

Chris smirked. He wasn't going to comment on that because it sounded so fake. He wouldn't have even had a chance to anyways before some other girl started eyeing the both of them. He noticed Shane eyeing her back and Chris rolled his eyes. Sure, he looked at other women, but he didn't leer at them like Shane was doing right now. If he leered anymore then he would renege his precious opinion on not doing anything to this asshole.

"Hey there," the girl said, going straight to Chris.

"Hey," Chris nodded towards her, but acted like he wasn't interested because he wasn't interested.

"I'm Jackie," she said, holding her hand out. Shane shook it, but she almost paid him no attention. "I haven't seen you here before, you're really cute."

"Thanks," Chris said dully. He was going to kill Stephanie for making him do this tonight. He could be at home, putting his daughters to bed or watching a movie with Stephanie and mocking her taste, but no, he was here, with a woman in a barely there skirt and a top that could double as a bra.

"Since I'm feeling very generous tonight, you know what I'm going to do," she said, "I'm going to let you buy me a drink."

Chris looked at her and shrugged. "Okay, first, let me just call my wife, then after I say hello to my daughters, who are 3 and 1 by the way, I'll buy you that drink. How does _that_ sound?"

"Sorry," she mumbled and turned to sashay away.

"You didn't have to be rude to her, man," Shane said.

"That wasn't rude, that was acknowledging the fact that I have a wife and I'm not buying a girl a drink."

"It's just a drink," Shane said. Chris stared at him for a moment. Just a drink? Who the hell was Shane "just buying" a drink for? Yeah, Chris was going to watch Shane a little more closely now. He was going to watch him a _lot_ more closely now.

He had a feeling in the end, he was going to be right about Shane.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, hope you enjoy the chapter, review if you're up for it. :)

* * *

"So did you get hit on?"

Chris walked into his closet and started undressing, "Yes, you know the ladies can't resist me. The question should really be how many times I get hit on."

"How many times did you get hit on?" Stephanie repeated with a slight laugh. Chris threw his dirty clothes into his hamper before turning off the light in his closet and walking over to the bed. He pulled back the covers. "Before you climb in, can you go check on the girls?"

"Yeah," he said. "More than one, less than five," he added as he walked towards the door.

"You're slipping, Irvine," Stephanie joked as he headed down the hallway.

Chris chuckled as he thought to Stephanie. The wedding ring he wore never seemed to deter women from trying to flirt with him. Usually they knew who he was from wrestling and they probably believed he was one of those wrestlers who took up a ring rat's offer, but he wasn't 24 anymore and he had better taste and a wife. He had wanted to remind Shane of that throughout the evening, whenever he caught his brother-in-law looking at some other woman, his smarmy eyes flitting over breasts and thighs. He just couldn't prove that Shane was looking at these girls with perverted intentions. There was no way he could definitively say that Shane was checking someone out.

He stopped by Murphy's room first, the soft glow of her teddy bear nightlight lighting up the room enough for him to tiptoe over to the crib. He looked down at her and she was sound asleep, her blond curls falling over her face a little bit, her curved mouth open slightly in soft breath. He pressed a kiss to his fingers and lightly touched her cheek, making her nose twitch a little bit. He smiled at his little serious girl. He left her room before he could wake her up and headed a couple doors over and across the hall to Aurora's room. She was tucked neatly in her bed, her face practically pressed into the pillow. He gently tilted her chin so she wasn't nearly suffocating herself. She gave a slightly angry groan before she kicked her legs about. Chris adjusted her blankets before pressing a kiss to her brunette head.

He looked at other women, it was never a question of that. He did, he just never wanted to do anything about it. Chris knew he had a good thing going on for him and Stephanie. When she'd first asked him out, he'd been surprised for about five minutes before the thought had spread and settled all over his brain like ivy. When it did, it seemed perfectly natural that Stephanie should ask him out. They'd gotten along since the moment they met and well, the eyes were usually the first things to like someone and Stephanie was certainly easy on the eyes. When he'd fallen in love with her, he'd just known that she would be the last woman he'd ever be with.

"They good?" Stephanie asked, looking up from the book she'd been reading in bed. She looked adorable with her hair in a messy bun perched high on her head and her glasses tipping off her nose, which she pushed up a moment later. He'd tried to convince her to get laser eye surgery like he had, but she'd refused, saying that putting her glasses on took two seconds and wasn't worth the trouble of going through _surgery _for it. Secretly, he'd been happy she refused because he believed she looked beautiful with her glasses on.

"Both asleep and accounted for," he told her, going over to the bed and pulling the covers up and sliding into the cool sheets. He leaned over and kissed Stephanie and then just lay there as he watched her read. "You going to bed?"

"I just want to finish this chapter," she said, then a few seconds later. "And done."

"Good, because I'm beat," he said, pulling his wedding ring off and setting it on his nightstand before turning off the light on his side. Stephanie followed suit a moment later and she slid down and over, curling into his side.

"So you haven't said much about your night, you don't even seem tipsy, not drink much?"

"I had a few, but I curbed myself," Chris said.

"Good," she said with a yawn. "I hate when you come home drunk because you're always looking for sex when that happens."

He laughed, "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It never is," she said, running her finger over his bare chest. "I'm just tired tonight."

"You've been tired a lot lately," he pointed out. "Stop working so hard."

"I'll stop working so hard when _you_ stop working so hard," she challenged and she had a point. They were both always go, go, go. "So how was it tonight?"

"Do you ever think I'd cheat on you?" he asked. "For real, I'm not just asking to be rhetorical or anything. I honestly want to know if you think I would ever cheat on you, like if you ever, even for one second believed that I would sleep with someone else."

Stephanie stifled a giggle, "You? Cheat?"

"Stephanie, I'm being serious here."

"I know, I'm sorry," she said, burying her face into his neck for a moment. "Okay, I'm sorry, baby, it's just such a ridiculous thought that you would cheat on me. You're not that kind of guy is all. I mean, you have the type of guy who cheats and you're not that type."

"But what if I was one of those stealth guys that didn't seem like a cheater, but I was?"

"You're not one of those types either, those guys think they're stealth, but they aren't, their sneakiness gives them away, but when are you ever sneaky? You aren't, you never hide anything from me so you're not sneaky so you're not the type."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Do you think I'm a cheater?"

Chris laughed, "God no."

"Feel that, that's how I felt when you asked me."

"Okay, I get it," he told her, leaning down to kiss the crown of her head.

"What brought this on?" Stephanie asked.

"I was just thinking about your brother tonight," Chris said. "I don't want to be rude to him, I don't want to make you feel bad or Maryn feel bad, but Shane seems the type to me, in fact, I would bet that he _is_ the type."

"And you are an accurate judge of this," Stephanie said.

"You didn't see him tonight, Steph," Chris said.

"So tell me about him tonight," Stephanie said. "I mean, you get hit on all the time and I don't go around thinking you're cheating on me. It happens when you're in a higher profile job. You're a wrestler, you're onscreen, Shane has been onscreen as well and so people, especially girls, know who he is, they're going to come up to him."

"He doesn't have to look so hard though."

"You look at other women."

"I don't _leer_ at them."

"I've seen you leer," she told him.

"You have not, I don't leer."

"If their breasts are in your face, you do leer a little bit, but I don't care. I don't think that Maryn would care if Shane leered a little bit. The point of the night was not to spy on my brother and try to judge his moral character, the point was to try and get to know him, did you do anything of the sort?"

"Yeah, I found out that your brother leers at other women while he's married to my sister," Chris said and Stephanie laughed at that. "It's not funny, Stephanie. I swear to God, if this guy hurts my sister, I'm going to pound him, it'll be like those cartoons where they hit people over the head and they just hammer right down into the ground."

"You watch too many cartoons with our daughters," she said with a yawn. "I'm going to bed now, I suggest you do as well because we're traveling tomorrow."

"Fine," Chris said with a sigh. "I'm not joking about beating him up, you know."

"I know…"

"Mommy, when do I get to wrestle?" Aurora asked as she skipped next to her mother, her brown pigtails flying behind her.

"Never," Chris told her, staring back at them.

"But why?"

"Because I don't want you to be a wrestler," Chris said.

"But Daddy…"

"We're not discussing this when you're only three years old," Chris told her. "I don't want you to be a wrestler."

"I'm almost four," Aurora whimpered, grabbing her mommy's hand. She whispered conspiratorially to her, "Mommy can I wrestle like Auntie Maryn?"

"We'll see," Stephanie whispered to her, giving her a small wink that made Aurora light up. Stephanie looked up and saw Chris had stopped. She believed that he was waiting for her and Aurora to catch up to him and Murphy, who was sitting in her stroller, but then she saw his head turned.

"So what do you make of that?" Chris asked, nodding his head to the side.

Stephanie looked over and saw her brother talking with Layla. "I'd say that was my brother talking to someone."

"_That_ close?" he asked her. "Do you talk to any guys that close? I mean, seriously, look at that and tell me that's okay."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and kissed Chris's cheek. "Sweetheart, it's probably nothing. Is it a little close? Sure, but sometimes people talk, it's not like they're making out or something, they're just talking. I know whatever you saw at the bar with my brother freaked you out, but you have to keep your head about you, okay? My brother is not cheating on your sister. You're paranoid."

"Nobody's going to be good enough for her."

"Of course not. Just like nobody is going to be good enough for your little princesses."

"Damn straight," he said as they walked into the arena. Well, Stephanie and Aurora walked into the arena while Chris stood there watching the exchange. Stephanie came back out a few moments later and grabbed Chris's hand, pulling him into the arena.

Chris put up a front while he was around Stephanie, but when she took the girls to go see Vince and let him change for the show, he took advantage of the moment alone. He went to the divas locker room and knocked on the door. He hardly ever stopped by the divas locker room so he hoped nobody made a big deal about it and let it get back to Stephanie or Maryn. Then he thought of his sister and how she might be in there, but then he remembered that she was married to Shane now and probably had her own space with Shane.

Nattie opened the door, "Oh, hey, Chris, are you looking for Maryn because I think she's with Shane."

"Nah, not looking for her, is Layla here?"

"Layla?" Nattie asked, furrowing her brow a little, "yeah, she's here, you needed to speak with her?"

"Yeah, if that's okay."

"Yeah, hold on, let me get her," she said, closing the door on him to get Layla. He leaned on the wall next to the door and waited. It took only a couple minutes for Layla to wander out into the hallway and look around, her eyes finally landing on him.

"Chris, I'm sorry, did you need something?" she asked, confused as to why he would need to talk to her. In the few years she'd been with the company, she'd maybe talked to Chris twice. For a moment she was worried that his wife had sent him to fire her, but she'd been doing a good job and she thought her job had been safe. "Are you firing me?"

Chris shook his head, "No, no, I don't do that kind of thing, that's the wife's job. I just…saw you talking with Shane a little earlier and well, I was just wondering what you guys were talking about."

"You are?"

"Yeah, I mean, you don't have to tell him that you were talking to me, but I was just curious as to what you two were discussing, if I'm not being too forward."

"He was just talking to me about the schedule. We're going over to England as I'm sure you know and he wanted to know if I knew any nice restaurants. I'm assuming he's taking your sister out while we're all over there," Layla explained.

"Wow, okay, thanks, sorry I bothered you." Chris felt kind of like an idiot now. It seemed that Shane's intentions were good. Layla nodded at him in goodbye before disappearing back into the ladies locker room. Chris leaned back against the wall, folding his arms in front of him. Maybe he had been wrong about Shane. He just didn't think the guy was good enough for his sister, but he was biased. He was horribly biased and maybe he was only seeing what he wanted to see. Even he didn't go seeking out people to look for restaurants to take Stephanie. Granted, he and Stephanie weren't newlyweds, but it was a nice gesture by Shane for his sister.

"What are we doing?" Chris nearly jumped before he glanced over his shoulder at Jay.

"Dude, what the hell," Chris said, hand over heart. "Haven't you ever heard of not sneaking up on someone?"

"You were pretty spaced out," Jay told him.

"What are you doing here at Raw?"

"Chris, my friend, where is your head tonight?" Jay asked. "I figured you of all people would know that all the brands are here tonight because it's a three-hour show. I mean, your wife is only the head of creative, shouldn't you be on top of these things."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"You know those rumors about Shane," Chris said. "And don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about, you're a gossip so you know what I'm talking about. The rumors about him and divas and stuff."

"Yeah, I know about the rumors, but he's married now."

"Married guys around here have affairs," Chris said, "have you ever been tempted to have one?"

"I'm not going to lie and say no. There have been a few opportunities where I've met a girl and I've kind of wanted to go in that direction, but I love Denise so I would never do that to her. What, are you afraid that Stephanie's cheating on you?" Jay was joking, but Chris just glared at him. "Okay, so you're afraid that Shane is cheating on your sister."

"Yeah, but I think I'm wrong," Chris said. "Do you believe those rumors?"

"He probably had some relationship with a diva or something and it got blown out of proportion."

"They say that if you didn't sleep with him, he'd have you fired or make it so you'd want to quit."

"If you think that's the case, then you should go to one of the fired divas and ask her about it, I'm sure you could find a couple. If you're so worried, what's the harm?"

He thought about it, how it might be beneficial, but then he thought to what he'd just heard from Layla. His sister was married now and he just had to trust in her choices. He'd never given Shane a fair shake after all and maybe now, after years of only thinking of him as his wife's brother, he needed to start thinking of him as actual family. If Maryn believed that this was the man she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with, then maybe it was time for him to believe the same.

"No, you know what, Jay, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thank you SO much for all the reviews for this story. I'm both thrilled and shocked that you seem to like it so much, seriously, the response has been fantastic and I'm just so thankful that you're enjoying it. I hope you enjoy this special Wednesday morning update and if you want to leave a review, I hope you will, enjoy! :)

* * *

Benefit of the doubt lasted about three days.

After three days, his suspicions started to kick again, especially after considering what Jay had told him about Shane and the idea of finding a fired diva and inquiring about Shane. He didn't want to do it; he didn't enjoy hating his brother-in-law, but he did it anyways because he could only see Shane as a sleazebag. He liked to think if his sister had married someone he hadn't heard all this gossip about that they could be friends, brothers even. But Shane, fat chance.

"Hello, can I please speak with Trish?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Stratus-Fisico is busy at the moment, may I ask who is calling?" her assistant said in a nasally voice. Chris rolled his eyes. Trish needed to hire a more personable assistant.

"It's one of her old friends, Chris Irvine, I'm sure you're just dodging calls for her and if you are, can you please tell her that it's me and I really want to talk to her."

"Fine," the woman, Catherine, said. "I'll see if she's available."

"Thank you," he said, tapping his fingers impatiently.

"Daddy, what are you doing?" Aurora asked, coming into the kitchen and seeing her daddy on the phone. "Who are you talking to? Is it someone big?"

"None of your business, little one," he said, leaning down and rubbing his nose against hers. "I thought you were in the living room taking your nap. You wore me out wanting to play all morning, I think I need a nap too."

"Daddies don't take naps and I'm not tired anymore," she shrugged. "Where's Mommy?"

"Work," he told her, "now go play because this is an important phone call."

"I don't wanna go play," she pouted. She wanted to stay around Chris and see what he was up to. He could be having a lot of fun on the phone and she wanted to join in on it if he was.

"Then go lie quietly on the couch until I come in there and we can play with that new book light-up thing that Grandma gave you."

"Okay," she said with a sigh as she shuffled out of the room.

He turned back to his phone and immediately heard, "You're as adorable with your daughters as you ever were, Chris."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Catherine told me. Sorry I didn't let you through immediately, I'm just swamped with work now that I'm starting another location for my yoga studio, I'm branching out, aren't you proud?"

"So proud," he told his old friend. "We miss you around work though."

"Looking at the product, I'm not surprised. Tell me this, Chris, who is responsible for the employment of the Bellas and Kelly Kelly?"

"Not my jurisdiction," Chris said, "if you want to know that, you have to ask my wife, she's the lady in charge."

"You'd think someone so powerful who not want those horrible wrestlers around," Trish scoffed, "but I digress, that's another talk for another day, how is Stephanie and how are your girls? I haven't seen them since the last time you guys were in Toronto."

"Stephanie is as she always is, busy, busy, busy and breathing down my neck about something or another," Chris told her, "Rora and Murphy are doing great, you should see Murphy, she is shooting up like bamboo."

"That's so great, so what's with the call, are you guys coming to Toronto soon or something? I haven't checked any schedules so I don't know…oh hey, how's your sister? I haven't seen her since the wedding, how's married life treating her?"

"That's actually what I was calling you about, Trish," Chris said.

"You're calling _me_ about your sister's marriage? That's…odd, Chris," she laughed.

"Do you like Shane?" Chris asked her point blank.

Trish was a diva, even if she had never had anything with Shane (and Trish had been extremely faithful to her now husband) she had to have seen things, known things. Chris had never been in the girl's locker room, but if it was anything like the atmosphere in the men's locker room than nothing was a secret. Hell, when he'd first started dating Stephanie, everyone buzzed about it though he hadn't said a word. He rubbed his cheek unconsciously as he remembered Stephanie coming up to him and slapping him, telling him that she kept hearing rumors about how they'd slept together on the first date. It'd taken him two hours to explain that one.

If anyone would know anything, it would be Trish. She had been one of the leaders of that locker room and had been around the company longer than a lot of other women; she would know the comings and goings. Plus, importantly, Chris trusted Trish. The woman had been a friend since she'd entered the company and they'd really gotten close during their storyline together, which required them to be quite close. After that, they'd started hanging out and when you hung out with Chris, you hung out with Stephanie and Stephanie and Trish had found they had a lot in common so whenever they were in the same area, they always had to meet up. It was a great friendship.

"That's a loaded question," Trish laughed. "Why are you asking?"

"I don't like him."

"Now I _know_ Stephanie nor Maryn is around," Trish laughed. "Why does my opinion count anyways or are you just going to gripe about him? Isn't that why you have guy friends?"

"This is a girl friend kind of thing and I've noticed that you have avoided the question."

"I haven't avoided it, it's just there's a lot to consider when I think about Shane is all."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that he's complicated, surely, you, who has been related to him for years, has seen this," Trish said. "It's not that he's necessarily horrible, but I wouldn't say he's the most approachable guy."

"Trish, just say it, I said it, just say it."

"Okay, so I don't like the guy, don't tell Stephanie and don't get me into trouble with her. I guess I just tolerate him because he _is_ Stephanie's brother and I love Stephanie and God, how can those two even be related? If it weren't for their looks, I never would have guessed."

"Thank you!" Chris said. "I feel like I'm the only one who sees it! I didn't want Maryn with him, obviously, but what can I do now, you know? I can't tell my sister who to see and not to see, she's not a teenager anymore."

"You can only hope she made the right decision and who knows, Chris, she might bring out a Shane that none of us get to see," she said, "I'm rational enough to realize that he might not be the jerk that I think him. If Maryn can love him and he loves her, then you have to let it be. You know how many guys I've had try to seduce me away? They always tell me I can do better, but I'm happy and they don't get that, maybe we just don't get Maryn."

"Trish, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me, okay?"

"I will try," she told him, wondering what he was going to ask because he sounded serious. She remembered a conversation a long time ago when Stephanie had been pregnant with Aurora. On the outside, Chris had been all swagger, boasting about his kid, saying how he was going to be a great father. He'd come to her one night to confess that he was terrified, but felt like he couldn't go to Stephanie because she was scared too and he couldn't go to the guys because they would rag on him. He had that same tone right now.

"You were in the woman's locker room, so you would hear stuff I'm sure…did Shane…I mean, was Shane…did he sleep with a lot of the divas?" Chris asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure he wanted the answer.

"I mean, you hear things, but you can never trust them, need I remind you of the first date incident with you and Stephanie?" Trish said.

"I know that sometimes a rumor is just a rumor, but…I feel like I have to know, even if they were. I just worry about my sister and I don't want her to get hurt, please don't tell her or Stephanie I called."

"I won't tell them, but in regards to Shane…well, I mean, you hear stuff and really, Chris, it might not be true."

"He's a scumbag, I knew it," Chris muttered, "I knew he was, I could feel it with every bone in my body. I swear to God, if he wasn't my wife's brother, I would have like…I don't know, locked Maryn in a tower so she couldn't marry him."

"I think you've been reading too many fairy tales to Rora and Murph," Trish said, "look, all I heard was that he was a bit of a womanizer, but Chris, sometimes people can change, we all change in various ways and obviously Shane thought highly enough of Maryn to marry her, so maybe he has changed."

"Or maybe he's still a scumbag, so womanizer, huh? How so?"

"Well, God, I can't believe I'm telling you this, if Stephanie found out, she'd kill me."

"I'd protect you from my wife's wrath."

"He was said to be plowing through the women's locker room. I know that he had a fling with Stacy, she told me about that herself. He wanted Torrie, but she was with Billy, when they got divorced, I'm pretty sure they did some stuff together. He definitely had Candice Michelle, she could _not_ stop bragging about it, but he dumped her when she got injured, probably because she wasn't around-"

"You can stop right there," Chris said, his voice wavering with anger. "I can't even stand to hear anymore."

"Granted, Chris, these incidents took place a fair amount of time apart and they were all very willing," Trish said. "If you didn't have Stephanie, I'm sure you would've dated around too. It happens in this business, look at Phil, I had to hear Maria cry on my shoulder for like a month after they broke up about how he could just move on like she was nothing…"

"How far apart?"

"Years between Stacy and Torrie and months between Torrie and Candice, I mean, you hear other things, but-"

"Other things, what other things, Trish," Chris prompted her, his anger surfacing again for Shane.

"Just other women, that's all, I mean, just other women."

"I've heard that he fired women that didn't want him."

"Well, come on, I don't think that's necessarily true, I turned him down plenty of times and I went out on my own terms."

"He hit on _you_? Why didn't you ever tell me!"

"Because it wasn't a big deal and Chris, I can name you a list a mile long of wrestlers who hit on me, Shane was just another blip on the radar, really. It was no big deal, he sidled up to me, tried to get me to dinner, I said no, that was that."

"Do you think I could contact someone that was let go? You know, I think I still have Gail's number, I bet she would tell me, we had a good rapport," Chris said, more to himself. "Do you think there's anyone I might talk to, Trish, really, please? If you have anybody that could help me out, please tell me?"

He sounded so desperate that she almost felt obligated to tell him. "Okay, well, look, if you're looking to talk to people, maybe start with Ashley Massaro or Christy Hemme, they could be your best bets, but Chris, please don't do anything rash. Your sister loves Shane, it's obvious and Stephanie loves him too. If anything, try to find the redeeming qualities they see."

"Trish, I really appreciate what you're doing here, but I can't-" He was cut off when he saw Stephanie walking into the kitchen, giving him a short wave. He wasn't expecting her for hours so seeing her made him stop. "Um, yes, Trish, hopefully we'll get to see you soon, I'll talk to you later, okay, bye."

"Stephanie just walked in, didn't she?"

"Yeah."

"Chris, just be careful, don't hurt anyone with your actions, promise me?"

"Okay, okay, I promise, bye."

"Bye," Trish said as Chris ended the call.

"Trish?"

"Just catching up with her, what are you doing home so early?"

"Finished early, you know who I caught sneaking out for a late lunch?" she said, but didn't wait for an answer, "the newlyweds. Isn't it sweet that she came down and he snuck out? Remember when you used to surprise me with picnics in my office, you'd come in with a blanket and everything?"

"That was when I was still trying to impress you and/or get laid," Chris told her and she rolled her eyes. "Plus, going out to lunch isn't something romantic, it's just going out to lunch."

"I didn't see you coming to the office to take me to lunch," she said, coming over and cupping his face in her hands, kissing him softly.

"I was here, taking care of your kids, which, oh man, I left Rora in there waiting for me."

"I don't think you need to worry, I saw her and she's out like a light, she must've gotten bored, Murph is upstairs?"

"Yeah, she's upstairs, so they went to lunch, shirking work again," Chris commented, "probably leaving it all to you."

"Yeah, if we were in the same department. Give them a break, Chris, they're happy, we used to be like them so let them have their moments."

"I guess," he said as she walked to the doorway.

"I'm going to go check on Murphy," she called over her shoulder.

"Okay!" Chris called back. He flipped through his phone, looking for someone who could help him. Surely someone knew how to get a hold of either Ashley or Christy.

He had to know what had happened.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thank you SO much for all the reviews for this story, I'm still so shocked that people are enjoying it so much. It really is awesome, so thank you! I hope you enjoy the chapter and hopefully keep those reviews coming! :)

* * *

Luck, as it appeared, was on Chris's side.

He'd called up Kurt to see where TNA was traveling in the next couple weeks. Of course, Kurt had been slightly suspicious, especially given the fact that Chris wasn't about to jump ship any time soon being Stephanie's husband and all, but once Chris had given the reason, he'd looked over the schedule to let Chris know where they were heading. As it happened, there was an instance where TNA would be touring in Norfolk, Virginia while the WWE would be in Raleigh, North Carolina. Granted, it was a three hour trip, but that was hardly anything if it meant protecting his sister.

The only bad thing about it was that he had to lie to his wife. He didn't care much for lying to Stephanie. They'd always had a really open relationship when it came to just about everything. Ever since the first date, she'd laid it out there that she was no-nonsense and wouldn't put up with crap. Ever since then, he'd made it a point to tell her everything he could remember. When he was away with Fozzy, he'd even log how many women had come up to him and slipped him their numbers, gave descriptions (he had a great eye for people) just in case some enterprising young woman tried to ever slip one over on him. He loved his wife and he never wanted to jeopardize their marriage.

This was just…it was his _sister_. His sister was one of the only people in the world who could understand everything about him because she'd been there for so much of it. She was the only one who could understand how hard his parents' divorce had been. She was the only one who could understand the hurt and pain in those first few days after their mother's accident. She'd been sitting in that chair next to him, looking so young and fragile and he'd held her while they both cried and waited. She knew the deep down Chris Irvine, the one even Stephanie had never seen and he felt obligated to make sure that she never hurt. She was his sister, his baby sister and he loved her and this was for her. If it came down to Stephanie finding everything out, she had to understand where he was coming from.

"So you're saying that Christy Hemme wants back in with us?" Stephanie asked, biting the side of her lip. "I don't understand why she'd want that."

"Have you _seen_ TNA?" Chris asked her.

"I don't make a habit of it, no," she said as she bent over to pick up some of Murphy's toys scattered around the living room, dumping them into the playpen that was still sitting in the corner even though Murphy wasn't allowed to use it anymore. It had, instead, become a place to throw the girls' toys whenever they were too lazy to put them back in their places.

"You don't scope out the competition?" he asked, pretending to be shocked, pressing his hand to his chest. Then he went over and pressed his hand to her forehead. "Are you okay? Are you sick? Pregnant again?"

"I'll watch TNA when I consider them competition," she said smartly, turning to him and smiling at him as he ducked his head in laughter.

"You're amazing," he told her. "They comment on us all the time. They have an inferiority complex, I think."

"Of course they do, we have you," she poked him in the chest a little. "So Christy Hemme wants back in with us and why do we want her back? Why are you even entertaining the thought? If it were Kurt, I'd say that perhaps we should see what was up, but because it's Christy, I'm not entirely sure why you want to drive three hours out of _your_ way just to meet with her."

"She was pretty good, right?"

"Not really," Stephanie said. "We didn't keep her on for a reason."

"Yet we keep on divas like Barbie and the Bellas," Chris pointed out. "She's at least as good as those three and I'm not even sure why you keep those girls employed."

"My father's other brain keeps them employed," Stephanie said as Aurora ran into the room.

"I'm done with my nap!" she announced to the entire room and pranced around a little like this was the biggest accomplishment she could achieve, at least for today. Stephanie scooped her up off the ground and kissed both her cheeks.

"Hello, my lovely," Stephanie said. "Would you be interested in an after-nap snack?"

"I do, Mommy," she grinned, her tongue sticking out a little like Chris's did when he was concentrating.

"Then to the kitchen!" Stephanie said in a gallant voice, pointing towards the kitchen. Then she pointed to Chris, "You come with, we're not done discussing."

"You too, Daddy!" Aurora copied Stephanie as they walked to the kitchen, Stephanie and Aurora leading the way and Chris following behind her, his hands shoved in his pockets as he regarded his wife and daughter. He was a happy man. Actually, he was a beyond happy man. Every day, he felt blessed with the family he'd been given. He had an amazing wife who understood his intricacies and there were many and he had kids who adored him, with smiles that could brighten even his worst day.

He wanted that for Maryn and he just couldn't see Shane giving her that. He wanted Maryn to have that beyond happy feeling everyday for the rest of her life, but how could she when Shane was leering at other woman and just seemingly uninterested in everything? He thought back to when Stephanie had first asked him out and the feeling of her wanting him and how happy he'd been after the fact and he wondered if Maryn had _ever_ had Shane incite that feeling in her.

"_Chris, hey," Stephanie said, jogging to catch up to him, which was a little difficult in her get-up that evening. She was wearing a leather halter top and a mini-skirt, her hair in messy curls flying behind her. When they both stopped, she blew some of her loose hair out of her face and when that didn't work, she brushed it out herself. "Sorry, need a minute."_

_Chris laughed. He'd liked Stephanie from the first moment he met her. It was strange the difference between her character and her real life personality, the switch was so jarring that he always kind of felt bad when he had to insult her because it wasn't her at all. She was so warm and happy and always had a nice word for everyone. "Someone needs to work out a little more." Her face fell a little bit at that and he caught himself, "You know I'm joking, Steph, but you really shouldn't run in those heels."_

"_Oh," she said, shaking her head and laughing at herself. "Sorry, I just wanted to catch up with you."_

"_You could've just called my name," he said with a wink. "I think I would've stopped for the pretty girl to catch up."_

_This time, she beamed at him and then turned her head to the side before he could catch the blush on her cheeks, but he caught it alright. "You're doing great out there."_

"_Thanks, I'm not, but thanks," he said and it actually meant a lot that she would say that. His first few months here had been so rocky and he was really only getting into the groove of the WWF. Sometimes he still felt like he hadn't found his niche, even though his feud with Paul was going really well, he still felt like his best was somewhere ahead of him._

"_You are," she said, reaching forward to squeeze his arm. "It's always difficult to fit into a new place, but you're getting there and I'm proud to be working with you."_

"_Thank you," he said and it was his turn to blush._

"_God, I'm sorry, I sound like your biggest fan or something," she laughed at herself and he really did like that she was able to do that. "Oh, I saw your sister…last week, I think it was. She was expressing some interest in being a wrestler."_

_Chris groaned. "Ever since I joined, she said this is what she's wanted to do. She's turning 18 soon and I guess I can't stop her from doing it."_

"_She's really sweet, I think she'd be a great addition," Stephanie said. "I like her."_

"_Thanks, I'll be sure to tell her," Chris said. "I better get to the locker room…I have a shower to take and everything, but it was really nice talking to you. I really enjoy working with you, you have no idea how much this feud is really helping me here. Paul is actually a really great worker and I appreciate how much he's putting into this."_

"_He's like that," Stephanie said. "A little _too_ intense."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Yeah, not that he's a bad guy or anything, he's really not."_

"_I heard you two dated or are dating I don't really keep up with backstage gossip," he chuckled. "I'm not one of the gossips."_

"_Were dating, but that was going nowhere," Stephanie shook her head. "We had _nothing_ in common and it was just weird being with him."_

"_That's too bad," he patted her shoulder. "Anyways, better get to that shower."_

"_Oh okay," she nodded and he started to walk away. "Wait, Chris?"_

"_Yeah?" he asked, turning around again._

_Stephanie looked around as if checking the hallways. It was the end of the show so there weren't a lot of people milling about. Chris didn't want to get caught in the dark so he really needed to shower and get out of here. Stephanie was looking nervous and had she looked like that during the entire conversation? She was shifting her weight from foot to foot and she kept licking her lips. She looked up and him and he saw her audibly swallow._

"_Are you free tomorrow after the house show?" she asked, her eyes looking up at him with a hope that he'd never seen so strong before._

"_Oh wow, tomorrow?"_

"_If you're not it's okay," she told him and he'd never seen her nervous like this and it was actually quite endearing. "I mean, if you don't want to, that's okay too."_

"_Are you asking me out on a date, Stephanie?" Chris asked, the smile threatening the corner of his lips._

_She took a deep breath and it was like the McMahon finally came over her, "Yeah, yeah I am. I'm not with anyone and I heard that you were currently not with anyone, which is a relatively new development, yes?"_

"_Yeah," he nodded. He'd just broken up with his girlfriend of a year a few weeks ago. The relationship had just run its course._

"_So, I figured I'd take my chances. I have thought you were good-looking since the first day you showed up and you're a really amazing guy outside of the ring and…I thought, why not just ask and see?"_

_He walked closer to her and she straight at him, her posture never wavering. "I would _love_ to go out with you tomorrow after the house show."_

"Hello, Mr. Statue, you going to stand there all day?" Stephanie asked and Chris broke from his reverie. Stephanie had already gotten Aurora's snack and his daughter was sitting at the table while Stephanie tidied up the kitchen. "Where were you just now?"

"Thinking about when you asked me out," he told her and she rolled her eyes. "How nervous you were, how cute you were, how much I loved that you were the one to ask _me_ out, that's all. Just…how I felt at that moment."

"Stupefied that I could be so bold?"

"Knowing you like I do now, not at all," he said, gathering her up in his arms.

"Chris, I think we both know that you're not meeting with Christy Hemme to talk about her going back to WWE," Stephanie said, rubbing his temples as he pulled her closer. "So what is this really about?"

Damn it, he couldn't even properly lie to his wife now. "Stephanie, I just want to-"

"I know you're not cheating on me so you can't use that as an excuse," Stephanie told him, "so it must be something else."

"You'll be mad at me," he told her, looking down. "You'll be mad at me and I don't want to tell you because you'll yell at me and Rora's right there and you'll yell at me in front of her."

"I won't yell at you," she promised.

"I want to talk to Christy about your brother," Chris confessed to her and Stephanie scoffed and pulled away from Chris. "See, I knew this was how you would react. That's why I didn't want to tell you."

"So you were going to lie to me," Stephanie said, shaking her head and turning to him. "Chris, how many times do I have to tell you…"

"I don't care, Stephanie," Chris told her. "I don't care about what you think about this because quite frankly, it doesn't involve you."

"It doesn't involve _me_!" she exclaimed and to her credit, she didn't yell. "This is my _brother_ you're talking about and _his_ marriage, if it involves _you_, it sure as hell involves _me_."

"I'm sorry that I can't look past it," Chris said, "you think I like being this suspicious of my sister's husband? You think I like sneaking around and acting like some demented investigator?"

"Then just stop!"

"Mommy, what is Daddy doing that bad?" Aurora asked.

"Nothing, sweetie, just eat your oranges," Stephanie said, pulling Chris to the foyer where they could still see Aurora, but she couldn't hear them. "Chris, how many times do I have to tell you to butt out of their business?"

"Stephanie, you don't understand. She's my little sister," Chris said. "She's my family. And I know that Shane is your family, I know he's your brother, but I don't trust him. I talked to Trish and-"

"_That's _why you talked to Trish?" she asked in disbelief. "I can't believe you, Chris, I just can't believe you with this. I don't know why you hate my brother so much. What did he ever do to you?"

"Meet Christy with me, if she says nothing happened with her and Shane, if she absolves your brother, then I swear on my life and your life and my daughters' lives that I will not go digging anymore."

"You promise?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, I promise," he told her, holding his hand up.

"Okay, then we'll meet with her, but when she says that Shane hasn't done anything, then I want you to stay out of it, do you hear me?" she told him, grabbing his chin so their eyes were level. "If my brother interfered in our marriage as much as you're interfering in his, then I think I would've divorced you a long time ago."

"No, you wouldn't have," he said, leaning forward to kiss her, but she moved her mouth away. "Let me kiss you."

"Nope," she said, teasing him. He tried again, "Go away, weirdo."

He spontaneously hugged her, "Thanks for letting me meet with Christy."

"You're lucky I kind of like you," she said, hugging him back.

Stephanie and Chris sat side-by-side, waiting for Christy to show up. The kids were driving to the next show with Maryn and Shane so Chris and Stephanie were alone. Stephanie was pushing the straw around in her drink, looking around while Chris was sipping at a beer, staring at the entrance. Stephanie leaned her head on Chris's shoulder.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into doing this, we're essentially spying on our siblings, you know that right, we're spying on them while they're watching our children," Stephanie whispered to him.

"Yeah, you mean while Maryn is watching them because I doubt that Shane is doing anything for them."

On this point, Stephanie could agree, at least somewhat, "He's just not used to being around kids, Chris. I wasn't when I had Aurora. Your sister is just like you, everyone likes you, whether they spend two minutes with you or two hours."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"We're so horrible for doing this."

"I just want the truth, that's all. I just want to know that my sister is in good hands."

"And my word and my brother's word isn't good enough?"

"You don't know your brother and no, your brother's word isn't good enough," Chris said, kissing Stephanie's forehead. "You, I trust implicitly, him, I don't trust."

"You said she'd be here at 6, it's now 6:23," she told him lazily, dropping the subject of trusting her brother.

"She's probably just running late," Chris said. "Look, there she is, just like I said."

"Late…no wonder we fired her," Stephanie said.

"Do you actually know _who_ fired her?"

"I don't remember, it was years ago, Chris."

"Weird, that," Chris said as he waved Christy over. She came over and Chris kind of stood up as she sat down. "Hey, Christy, thanks for meeting with us."

"Yeah, Kurt just said that you wanted to meet up and it's a little weird," Christy said, "hi, Stephanie."

"Hi," Stephanie said, dully. "Well, Chris if you want to start this interrogation."

"Interrogation?" Christy asked, confused. "I haven't worked for you guys in a long time."

"No, it's nothing like that," Chris said, "it's about Shane."

Christy threw a furtive look to Stephanie before responding, "Shane…McMahon?"

"You can say whatever you want in front of us," Chris said, "Stephanie doesn't care what you say, we both just want to know a little bit more about the rumors that went around about him. That have been going around about him. He's married to my sister now and I just worry about him is all."

"Oh," Christy said, still a little put out that Stephanie was right there. "I don't know if I can help, guys."

"Did Shane ever hit on you?"

"Well, Shane hit on everything with a skirt," Christy said slowly. "It wasn't just me, he was after everyone."

"Did he like, force you to go out?"

"I…no, of course not," Christy said. "He never forced or anything. He was…maybe a little put out when you said no, but…I mean, he never forced himself on me or anything!"

"Well, that's not what I asked, I didn't think that about him," Chris said, for Christy's benefit and for Stephanie's.

"So you refused him then?"

"I just didn't want to," Christy said.

"Did you get fired for it?"

"Fired?" she stumbled on the word. "No, no, I mean, it wasn't even him that fired me, it was, I just, you know, you guys didn't have a spot for me, budget cut…um, I really can't stay, I have somewhere to be for TNA. I hope that I helped."

"Yeah, thanks," Chris said.

"You're welcome, bye," she said, hightailing it out of there.

"Did you _see_ that?" Chris said. "Something happened."

"I just think that she didn't want to talk to us because this was a weird and awkward conversation," Stephanie said, "I don't think that implicates my brother to anything except hitting on girls while he was _single_, which, I'm pretty sure you did when you were single."

"But the way she spoke…"

"Chris, the promise? You promised on a bunch of lives that you would cut it out once Christy proved me right.

"But Steph, she was-"

"She gave no indication that my brother was the reason she was fired," Stephanie said. "The length of the conversation has no bearing on the words in the conversation. Now, you are going to drop this silly conspiracy you have against my brother because you promised you would, right?"

"Yes, I promised I would."

"And are you going to?" she asked. He looked at his wife. Maybe he was overreaching and he didn't want Stephanie mad at him. He loved her enough to see that this was hurting her too. She didn't want to see her brother in that light and she did love her brother and while he couldn't stand the guy, this was her brother. The last thing he wanted was Stephanie to be upset with him or upset in general.

"Yes, I'm going to."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Thank you again for all the reviews, you guys rock! Hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Stephanie leaned her chin on her hand, staring off into space. Her eyes wandered across catering to the muted sounds coming from the different tables. She didn't focus in on any particular conversation, not that she could _hear_ any particular conversation. Her eyes wandered to her husband. He was on the floor with Aurora, pushing cars around. Chris had decided very early on that they shouldn't inhibit their children and so Aurora had a mixture of traditional girls' toys and boys' toys. Stephanie just let him do what he wanted. He loved being a father and in that way, _she_ didn't want to inhibit _him_.

"Hey, Steph."

Stephanie was broken from her thoughts and looked up at the figure standing next to the table. "Oh hey, Mar, what's up?"

"Nothing," Maryn said, taking a seat next to Stephanie and glancing over where Stephanie had been looking for what seemed like forever. She laughed when she saw her brother making car noises and weaving in and out of chairs with her niece. "Sometimes I don't know which one is the kid."

Stephanie laughed a little, "He just loves his daughters."

"I always knew he'd make a good dad, I was young enough to see that growing up," Maryn said. "So hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch the day after tomorrow when we're back in Connecticut. I thought we could make a small day of it, you know, go to New York, do a little shopping, get lunch."

Stephanie thought for a moment, "Yeah, I can do that, Chris can take care of the girls, he doesn't have anything and I can take the day off, Chris says I work too much anyways. It'll be fun."

"Great, I look forward to it, I love having a sister now," she smiled and hugged Stephanie briefly before getting up again, "I better go get ready for the show, I'll see you later, bye Murph the Turf." Maryn leaned down a little to kiss the top of Murphy's head, who had been drinking a bottle this entire time. When Maryn was gone, Chris crawled over to Stephanie, Aurora following like a little duckling behind him. He knelt in front of Stephanie and grinned up at her.

"Hello m'lady, I came to ask for you hand in marriage, will you marry me?" he said in an affected, haughty voice.

"Daddy, you already married," Aurora giggled as she stood up and leaned her head against Chris's shoulder.

"Yes, you're already married," Stephanie said, leaning down to kiss him and then kiss Aurora's cheek. "So you're very silly."

"What a guy can't propose two times to the same woman?" he asked. "Well that just puts a crimp in my anniversary plans."

"I'm sure it does," she said, rolling her eyes a little, but she loved when Chris got romantic. It was subtle, never overt, and she liked it that way. There were a million ways Chris showed her he loved her and she never needed the big gesture of romance. It may be nice for other women, but she wouldn't trade what she had for the world.

"So what did Maryn want?" Chris asked. Stephanie was proud of him. In the three months since he'd promised to stop investigating her brother like a criminal, he'd actually let Maryn and Shane alone. She knew that it was mostly because he loved her and would do almost anything for her and not because she actually trusted her brother. Still, it said a lot that he did that for her and it meant a lot that he'd actually let his suspicions go.

"She just wanted to have lunch on Wednesday, make a day of it in New York. You can take care of the kids, right?"

"Spend the day with my kids? Could there _be_ a better day?" Chris asked, glancing at Aurora. "You never have to ask if I can take care of the kids, I always can take care of the kids, maybe _we'll_ make a day of it."

"Well thank you," she said, kissing him again, "and I guess I'll marry you."

"Yes!" he winked at her.

Stephanie opened the front door and happily greeted her sister-in-law, "Hey, you're early, come on in, I'm almost ready, but Murphy decided that she wasn't going to feel well today and she's been throwing up all morning."

"Oh, my poor Murph the Turf," Maryn pouted, "where is she?"

"She's lying with Chris on the couch," Stephanie jerked a finger towards the living room. "Do you mind if Rora comes with us? Chris is going to take Murphy to the doctor and I don't want Rora around all that sickness."

"Of course," Maryn said, "I love my nieces."

"Okay, I'm getting her ready, I'll be right down."

"I'll just go check on Murph and Chris," she responded, walking into the living room. Chris was lying on the couch and Murphy was lying on his chest, looking miserable and sad. Her pacifier was in her mouth and she was sucking on it slowly while Chris rubbed her back. "Hey guys."

"Hey, sis," Chris said, looking over at her as Maryn knelt next to the couch.

"Hey, Murph the Turf, I heard you weren't feeling well, sweets," Maryn told Murphy, kissing the top of her head. "I hope you feel well soon."

"I think it's just a stomach bug, maybe something she caught while on the plane," Chris explained. "We're just going to take it easy today. Now, Mar, you are taking my daughter out, I don't want her coming home with makeup or skanky clothing, okay, she's three."

"Chris, how dare you think I'm going to corrupt your daughter!" Maryn said, pressing her hand against her chest. "I would never do that and risk my reputation as cool Aunt Maryn, oh wait, that's what's going to make me the cool Aunt Maryn."

"No makeup," he told her, poking her in the shoulder.

"Blush?"

"No."

"Lip gloss?"

"No."

"Eyeliner?"

"No, no, and no to all the rest of the girlie stuff you want to put my daughter in."

"Fine, fine, fine," Maryn said, "you're no fun at all."

"That's why I was cursed with daughters," Chris said, "they'll be the death of me."

"Never," Maryn said as she grunted when something bumped into her back. She turned her head a little and smile, "Rora Bora, warn a girl before you just slam into her with a hug."

"Okay," Aurora giggled, "We're going out now, bye, Daddy!"

"Bye, Rora," Chris said, making smooching noises that prompted Aurora to come over and give her daddy a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, Murph, feel better," Aurora whispered to her sister before running over to her mother and grabbing her hand.

Stephanie placed her shopping bags next to the table before helping Aurora into her booster seat. Once they were settled and looking at their menus, Stephanie looked up at her sister-in-law and said, "This is nice."

"It's nice to get away every now and then," Maryn said, "our lives are so hectic that it's nice to just be normal for a little bit…until someone comes up and asks for your autograph and a picture of course. Unfortunately or fortunately maybe, someone here has gotten more requests than I have."

"Oh please, first your brother wants to compete with me over how many times he gets hit on and now you want to compete on autographs."

"You'd think I'd get more with these looks," Maryn said, framing her face and striking a pose.

"I think it's because I'm a mom now so guys probably figure that they can just come up to me and don't find me hot while you are so pretty that you're intimidating."

"Lies, you're a MILF," Maryn said, thanking the now uncomfortable busboy who brought them a basket of bread. She and Stephanie laughed as the busboy scurried away. "Okay, so maybe that guy is intimidated by me now."

"I'd think so," Stephanie said.

"Why?" Aurora asked, looking up from the menu and the crayons to join in the conversation momentarily.

"Because, Little Miss," Stephanie said and Aurora giggled before going back to her crayons and drawing. Stephanie looked up and saw Maryn looking at Aurora and she smiled at her sister-in-law, "You look like you want one of these."

"Who? Me?" Maryn said, pressing her hand to her chest.

"I can see the look, I know that look, I once had that look," Stephanie said, "you want to have kids, don't you?"

"Steph, how did you know you were in love with my brother?" Maryn asked and it was rather out of the blue and took Stephanie by surprise.

"That's out there, why do you ask?"

"I don't know, just wondering about love and life and everything that comes with it. I mean, you have Aurora and Murphy and I just wonder, what made you know that my brother was the guy you wanted that all with, the one you knew you would have kids with. And why him? I mean, you dated before my brother, why were you so sure that my brother was going to be the guy?"

Stephanie shrugged, "That's such a loaded question. I remember meeting Chris. It was about four months before his debut. He was at Titan to start the preliminary discussions regarding his entrance into the company that August and I was still working part-time in accounting. We were in the elevator together by complete coincidence. I was meeting with my mom for lunch so we were heading to the same floor. He was…gorgeous. I must've gasped when the doors opened and he was standing there. I recognized him immediately and I think he did the same with me. He held the door open for me because I swear I must have stood there for at least a minute just gaping at him. He's always been so nonchalant about things though. I finally got on the elevator and he just said hello to me and…"

"And you were sure?"

"I knew there was something there between us," Stephanie said, "I didn't realize it was all of this, this life…but I think I _knew_ that your brother was the one on our fourth date."

"Fourth date? That's oddly specific."

"He'd insulted me earlier that night, for the show of course, so that night, he just drove me around for like an hour and we talked and everything and then we got fast food and ended up in some parking lot, just eating and talking and he said to me that it wasn't to take my mind off all the insults he had to spew at me, but that he just wanted to show me how it could be every night with us, comfortable and nice. I just thought that I would definitely like a lot more nights like this."

"That sounds really nice," Maryn said with a sigh, "who knew my brother had it in him."

"So what's up, Mar?" Stephanie asked. "Why the philosophical questions? Is everything okay with you and Shane?"

"Yeah, I mean, you know, I guess…I think I'm just in that right after honeymoon rut, you know what I mean. After you and Chris got back, did you feel the same way?"

"Well, it's been a while," Stephanie joked, "but eventually, yeah, I think you settle down and you know, being a newlywed is nice, very nice sometimes, but then you both have responsibilities that need taking care of and then you fall into a routine and it's not bad, it's just how life goes. You can't spend your entire life being on a honeymoon, no matter what your brother thinks."

"I guess," Maryn said, "I guess that's why I really asked you for the day. I needed you to impart your sisterly and wifely wisdom on me. I just feel like it's not the same. Not that I love Shane any less, just all the excitement was gone and with Shane working all the time…"

Stephanie refrained from saying that was a first. Shane did his job; he just didn't put in her hours and that wasn't his fault because she kept long hours, "Well, he does have an executive position."

"Yeah, I know," she said, "I'm being stupid, right? Here I am, wondering what's wrong with my marriage and it's been four months and…it's just I've never been married so all of this is new to me and everything."

"Marriage isn't something that you all of a sudden just get. It's not like you hit the year mark and suddenly it all makes sense. Chris and I have to work at our marriage, just like every marriage I'm sure. It doesn't always come easy, there are going to be fights, but you get over them."

"Thanks," Maryn said, trying to smile. "I love your brother."

"I know you do."

Stephanie waved as Maryn pulled out of the driveway and she opened the door, grabbing the bags of things they'd bought with one hand. The other was supporting Aurora, who had fallen asleep on the car trip home. She was now clinging to Stephanie. Chris, hearing the door open, came into the foyer and immediately went for Aurora, taking her from Stephanie's arms before he leaned down to give Stephanie a peck on the lips.

"Hey," she said, "where's Murphy?"

"Upstairs sleeping," Chris said. "The doctor said it was most likely just a stomach bug, he gave her some antibiotics just in case it was a virus. I let her stay with me until she fell asleep. Totally awkward trying to lift weights with a one year old in your arms."

"You did not," she said, pushing him a little.

"What, I need to keep the guns in shape," Chris said, flexing his free arm. "How do you think I keep you around?"

"Very funny," she said.

"I'm taking her up," Chris said, already starting for the stairs. Stephanie took the bags of stuff into the kitchen and set them on the kitchen table. She was going to defrost the chicken she was going to make for dinner only to find that Chris had already taken it out. "I figured I'd just make dinner tonight," he said as he came into the kitchen, childless, and wrapped his arms around her. "You're probably tired from your day."

"I just went shopping, you had to take care of a sick toddler."

"All in a day's work, my love," he told her, resting his chin on her shoulder. "How was your day with Maryn?"

"It was fun."

"Did you talk about me?"

"Don't we always?" she told him, turning in his arms to tug her closer.

She realized how lucky she was to have someone like Chris. Even when they were fighting, she never questioned her decision to be with this man. Through every fight they had, every small argument, every big argument, all of that reinforced that she would never want to fight with anyone but him. Everyday she knew she was with someone who understood her and supported her.

And if Maryn was anything like her brother, Shane should be thanking God everyday.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thank you all again for the amazing response for this story. I'm so glad that so many of you are enjoying it and I hope it'll just get better from here on out. I hope you enjoy and reviews are love :)

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"Chris, Chris, wake up!"

Chris mumbled incoherently and turned over onto his other side, but Stephanie wasn't deterred. She sat up and started pushing Chris's shoulder. He tried to swat her hand away, but she just kept pushing at him. "Steph, stop, sleeping, sore," Chris managed to say, forgetting that to make a sentence there really should have been a lot more components.

"Chris, you've got to wake up, someone's ringing the doorbell!"

"Huh, what," he said, "you're probably dreaming it."

"I'm not dreaming it," Stephanie told him, shoving him harder. "Chris, listen, someone is ringing the doorbell and it's 2:30 in the morning. Chris!"

Her shrill yell woke him up and when he did listen, he heard she was right, the doorbell was ringing. "It's probably a loose wire," he said, stretching his body a little and wincing as he tweaked something the wrong way. He'd made a special appearance on SmackDown this week and two matches in less than a week was starting to take a toll on his body that never used to happen when he was younger.

"Well then go fix it," Stephanie said, "or do something, Chris, it's not stopping! I really don't think it's a faulty wire, I think someone is ringing it."

"Stephanie, calm down," he sat up and looked over at her. "Okay, baby, you need to just take a chill pill, okay. I will go and see what's going on."

"What if it's some kind of murderer?" she asked, her eyes widening. "What if they want to kill us? The girls, Chris, we've got to get the girls out of the house!"

"It's probably not a murderer," Chris told her, placing his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them gently as he looked into his wife's panicked eyes. "I'm not sure a murderer would be so polite as to ring the bell."

"They could be luring us into a false sense of security," she said.

"I'm going to go check."

"I'm going with you," Stephanie scrambled out of bed and followed Chris out of the room. She placed her hands on his waist as he walked down the hallway. "You should get a weapon! Like a knife, should we get knives from the kitchen?"

"I'm not getting a knife."

"We have a bat in the front hall closet," Stephanie said, "the one that Shane got at that Yankees game he went to."

"Isn't that signed by some baseball guy?"

"I don't know," Stephanie said, "it's a weapon." They slowly crept their way downstairs, the doorbell still ringing. With every step that Chris took, Stephanie took a similar step, keeping very close to him. Her chest was nearly pressing into his back.

"Stephanie, will you give me a little space here," he threw over his shoulder and she shook her head violently. He went to the hall closet and grabbed the bat sitting in there, choking up on it as he made his way to the door.

"Check who it is first!" Stephanie hissed at him, but low enough that nobody could hear them on the other side of the door. "This is what burglars do, I read it on the internet or something, they ring the doorbells to see if anyone's home and if someone answers, they barge in and if nobody answers, they assume nobody's home and they just rob the place!"

Chris turned back to her. "I want you to stand right here, okay, you take the bat and you hit anyone if they attack."

"But you'll be unarmed!" she told him, alarmed that he would just open the door.

"I'll be fine," he said, turning to the door and slowly walking towards it. He leaned over and looked through the glass at the side of the door. He could just make a body out through the door itself and as the motion-detected light came on he breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just Maryn."

"Maryn?" Stephanie said, pushing past Chris and throwing the door open. "Maryn Elizabeth Irvine, what in the fuck do you think you're doing…"

The question died on her lips when she finally looked at her sister-in-law. Maryn's eyes were red and puffy from crying and her face was flushed and the tears rolling down her cheeks were shining like sad diamonds in the light of their porch. Chris looked over Stephanie's shoulder and saw his sister obviously upset and his eyes widened in alarm. He made a move to go forward, but Stephanie was already stepping forward and she enveloped Maryn into a hug. Stephanie had a few inches on Maryn so Maryn buried her face against Stephanie's neck.

"Oh honey, come inside," Stephanie said, pulling away so she could usher Maryn into the house. "Chris, can you boil some water to make some tea."

"I don't want anything to drink," Maryn sobbed.

"It'll help calm you down," Stephanie explained, then looked pointedly at Chris. For so long, Chris had been Maryn's protector and he wasn't used to being relegated to the background. He was also startled because he hadn't seen Maryn like this…pretty much ever. She was always so strong and self-confident and seeing her like this rendered him speechless. He was rooted to his spot, just watching his sister break down in his wife's arms. "Chris, the tea."

"Oh yeah, yeah, of course," he said, scurrying off to the kitchen. He was so surprised by his sister's appearance in the middle of the night that he didn't think of why she might be here in the first place. If he had thought about it, then he might find it strange that she wasn't being comforted by her husband right now.

Meanwhile, Stephanie was sitting Maryn down on the couch, reaching over to flip on the lights so they weren't sitting in the dark. She stood up and grabbed a wayward tissue box on the floor (when you had two small children, they came in handy for runny noses and boogers). She brought it over to Maryn, taking out a couple and wiping her sister-in-law's eyes. Maryn took the initiative and started wiping at her eyes as they sat there for a few moments in relative silence.

"Honey, what's going on, why aren't you at home? Where's Shane?" Stephanie asked. Stephanie was like a machine, when she saw a problem, she was on top of it, unlike her husband. She wanted to get to the bottom of this and help Maryn with whatever was wrong.

"We had a fight," Maryn sniffled, "I don't…I don't even know how it happened. It just all happened so fast and I had to get out of there and I just, I didn't want to go to a hotel, I didn't want to go to your parents because well, they're his parents, and I didn't have anywhere else to go and…I just didn't know what to do."

"Okay, you know you're always welcome here," Stephanie rubbed her back soothingly. "You never even have to ask, you know that. But what kind of fight?"

"I'm not even sure, it didn't start as a fight," Maryn said, "I mean, I didn't want it to be a fight, but he just…he just kept misunderstanding and I don't even…"

"What's wrong?" Chris asked, coming in from the kitchen. He sat on the other side of Maryn, wrapping his arm around her shoulders while Stephanie continued to rub her back. "Why are you so upset, Mar?"

"She had a fight with Shane," Stephanie explained.

"What! That-"

"Chris, let's let her talk," Stephanie told him to calm him down. His eyes blazed as he glared at her, but she glared back and he backed down because Stephanie's eyes could blaze like the sun. "Okay, so tell us exactly what happened?"

"He was working late again," Maryn explained, "and so I wanted to wait up for him. He came home around midnight, which is all fine. I fell asleep upstairs and I was in bed and then he comes storming into the room and he has my phone and he was yelling at me asking to explain something to him. I didn't know what he meant and he threw my phone at me. I looked at it and all it was, was an invitation to lunch from Phil. We're going to be in Chicago next week and he's always raving about this pizza place and he wanted to take me out to lunch, just to lunch, that's it and Shane starts accusing me of wanting to be with Phil and I don't even know where that came from because I don't want to be with Phil. Then he was just accusing me of wanting to be with Phil and sleeping with Phil behind his back and I don't even know why he was saying these things. I was so angry that he was accusing me that I just told him something like, 'Well at least I'm not the one out until midnight' and he just went off saying that he had to work and what the hell was _I_ accusing _him_ of and was I trying to deflect from what was going on and I don't know how things got so out of hand. But I was pissed at him and then he was pissed at me…"

"I'm going to kill him," Chris said, already getting out of his seat. "I'm going to beat his face in so bad that his mother won't recognize him."

"Chris, stop it," Stephanie told him, "sit down and stop it, nobody is going to beat up anyone tonight. It sounds like a misunderstanding."

"What? Your brother was accusing my sister of being a cheater. We're not cheaters, Irvines don't cheat on people. How dare he accuse my sister of something like that! I'm not going to stand for it. That bastard is…" He caught himself before he said that he was probably the one cheating. The last thing he needed was another reason for Stephanie to look at him like that.

"Nothing is going to be solved by physically fighting," she said, "we tell Rora and Murphy all the time that fighting with hands is not how we solve things."

"Then I'll use my feet and kick him," Chris said, folding his arms and leaning against the arms of the couch. He was pissed. His skin felt hot because he was using everything inside of him not to explode and drive recklessly over to his sister's house and beat Shane into a fine pulp.

"Not funny," Stephanie warned him.

"I took care of it anyways," Maryn mumbled. "I punched him in the face before I left."

"Thatta girl," Chris said, patting his sister on the shoulder, but that only earned him another look from Stephanie.

"Okay, so this is obviously a volatile situation," Stephanie said, "but I'm sure that Shane is sorry for it or will be. He's probably just stressed from all this overtime. My brother isn't exactly Mr. Work Ethic so even a few extra hours of work are bound to set him on edge-"

"Are you _defending _him?" Chris asked.

"No, I'm not defending him, he should not have accused Maryn of cheating on him," Stephanie said.

"He damn sure shouldn't have," Chris scoffed. "I can't believe the audacity of that bastard to question my sister's faithfulness in him. God, if you ever did that to me, I would be out of here so fast."

"Okay, calm down, Commander," Stephanie said. "Mar, you're welcome to stay here tonight if you want to. It's late and you've had a rough night and you could use some sleep. Do you want to stay?"

"That would be great, thanks," Maryn said, hugging Stephanie. She thought she was doing better, but she started to cry again. "I don't know why he would say something like that to me. I've never been anything but devoted to him, why would he say that?"

"Because he's a bastard, that's why," Chris muttered.

"Chris, please go get Maryn her tea," Stephanie told him and her eyes widened in a way that told him he was going to get it later when they were alone but he could care less at the moment. He was itching for a fight and if Shane so much as dared come over here, Chris was going to call the cops for trespassing. He got up grudgingly and headed to the kitchen, leaving Maryn and Stephanie alone again. "It'll be okay, Mar, I promise. My brother is just a hothead, he's like my dad, hell, he's like me-"

"You would _never_ accuse Chris of cheating on you," Maryn sniffled, wiping at her eyes, but keeping her arms wrapped around Stephanie. Maryn wished she had her mother right now. Her mom always knew how to make her feel better. There were so many times growing up, before her accident, where Maryn would just burrow herself into her mother's side and let Loretta coddle her and run her fingers through her hair as she related some silly story from her childhood that mirrored Maryn's in some way.

But since her mother wasn't there, her sister-in-law would have to do. Stephanie had a natural motherhood instinct and she seemed to always know the right thing to say. Her brother was lucky to marry someone like Stephanie and by extension, Maryn was lucky she had someone like Stephanie to turn to when things got rough, like right now. Stephanie was just holding her close like a mother would and it was what she needed at the moment.

"Who the hell would take him?" Stephanie joked and she felt Maryn laugh against her. It was a step in the right direction.

"I guess you're right, I'm still surprised he had any girlfriends, let alone a wife," Maryn joked at the expense of her brother.

"I trust Chris," Stephanie said, "and Shane trusts you, I'm sure he was just on edge or something."

"I guess," Maryn said.

"It doesn't change the fact that he was horrible to you and needs to apologize, but I'm just trying to figure out why he would say something so absolutely baseless."

"I don't know, I wish I did," Maryn told her.

"Well, we'll figure it out," Stephanie said, smoothing Maryn's hair down. "Come on, let me get the guest room ready for you, do you want something to wear?"

"I'm wearing my pajamas," Maryn said, opening her jacket a little as she pulled away from Stephanie.

"Okay, come on," Stephanie grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. "You know, when I was younger, I snuck out one time to meet my boyfriend. He was 19 and I was 17 and I wasn't supposed to be out past midnight, especially not with Eli. So I went out with him anyways and I get back and Shane was awake and he saw me sneak in. I thought he would be cool about it, but he flew off the handle, telling me how dangerous that was, how I could have been hurt and nobody would have known. I didn't know where the hell this rant came from. It turned out that one of his friends had been roofied at a party and she was nearly assaulted, but was still shaken up and he was worried that I would end up the same way, but worse. My brother has motives, sometimes stupid ones, but he does have them. Maybe he has a friend whose wife cheated on them and he's worried that he'll lose you because speaking from my own experience, no McMahon ever wants to lose an Irvine from their life, your family is pretty spectacular."

"We are pretty cool, aren't we?"

"The coolest," Stephanie assured her as they walked upstairs. "You know where everything is and if you wake up in the middle of the night and need a girl session, you know I'm right at the end of the hall. If you want me to stay with you tonight, you know I will, we can get some popcorn and watch cheesy movies."

"I think I'd just rather try and get some sleep, I'm exhausted from everything," Maryn told her.

"Of course," Stephanie hugged Maryn again tightly. Chris came in and handed Maryn the tea he'd made for her and she took a grateful sip as Chris leaned in and hugged her. He didn't let go for a good, long minute.

"I'll be okay, Chris," she whispered to him.

"You say the word and he's dead, Mar," Chris told her, kissing the top of her head. "Nobody messes with my sister."

"Yes, yes, I get it," she said, taking another sip of her tea, "thank you guys so much for being here. I'm really lucky."

Stephanie smiled at her, "Get some rest, we'll be right down the hall."

Maryn nodded and though Chris seemed like he wanted to stand guard outside her door, Stephanie pulled him reluctantly back to their bedroom. As soon as they were inside, he blew up and threw the closest thing to him, one of Murphy's stuffed animals sitting on the dresser, against the wall. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!"

"Chris," Stephanie stood her ground, "this is not our fight."

"Where the hell is your brother coming up with this stuff, huh? My sister cheating on him, _my sister_ cheating on him? Well, of course she can do better, but she'd never do that and for him to even suggest that she would and what does that say about what he thinks of my family? Does he think that I'm a cheater too, does he want to jump to _that_ conclusion?" Chris was irate and ranting. Stephanie walked over to him and grabbed his hands.

"Chris, this is not our fight," Stephanie repeated. "We have to be here for Maryn, but we can't interfere in their personal lives, it's not our place."

"Oh, it's my place when your brother calls my sister out as a cheater," Chris argued. "It's definitely my place when he makes her cry like she was."

"I know, what he did was wrong and he shouldn't have done it, but they're adults, when we have a fight, do I expect Shane to beat you up and solve my problems?"

"He wouldn't even if he cared, he's an asshole, not just to Maryn, but to everyone," Chris told her. "And the fact that you're defending him in all of this…"

"Nobody is defending anybody, I'm just a fan of listening to what's going on and letting them solve their own problems," Stephanie said, but Chris was already ignoring her and climbing back into bed, throwing the covers back with anger.

"I'm going to bed, the girls get up early and we're going to be tired."

"They can wait a few minutes so we can talk this out."

"There's nothing to talk about," Chris said with a shrug, "apparently we're letting everyone work out their own damn problems."

Stephanie didn't have it in her to argue with him. He climbed into bed and she climbed in after him. She turned off the light and then tried to snuggle up to him, but he was having none of it. Stephanie coughed loudly and then pulled his arm over to her and he came over more willingly this time, wrapping his arm around Stephanie's waist and spooning against her, his head resting right behind hers.

"I just don't like to see my sister hurt, it's not even that it's because of your brother, any guy, if it were any guy, I'd feel the same way," he told her.

"I know," she said, patting his hand, "I know you're just trying to be a good brother and I love you for that and so does Mar. But you're stubborn and you're caustic. Not everything gets solved with punches, Chris."

"It makes it easier though," he told her and pulled her closer against him so their bodies were touching almost everywhere. There was a pause and then, "I love you."

"I know you do," she told him. "I love you too."

"I think I got the better McMahon out of the deal," he added. Stephanie laughed quietly. "You think I'm joking, but I'm not."

"I know you're not," she whispered to him. "Love works itself out."

"You really think it's that easy, just love…"

"Yeah, I think so."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Once again, thank you so much for all the positive reviews for this story. It really makes me want to make it the best story I possibly can. I hope you enjoy the chapter and things will be getting more intense soon I think. Enjoy and reviews are lovely! :)

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"Maryn, what is this?"

Maryn turned around and held her arms out, "I made breakfast!"

"Maryn, I for sure thought you'd be sleeping," Chris said, going up to his sister and giving her a hug. "You didn't have to make us breakfast."

"Now let's not get too ahead of ourselves," Stephanie said as she grabbed a piece of toast, already buttered and took a bite. "Any time we don't have to make breakfast, we should cherish it."

"When did you even learn to cook?" Chris asked, looking at the spread his sister had laid out. There was toast, eggs were cooking in the pan on the stove right next to another pan of bacon and Chris was shocked they even had all this stuff. There also appeared to be pancake batter sitting on the counter.

"After Mom had her accident, who do you think cooked, Chris, come on," Maryn said, rolling her eyes, "of course I had to learn to cook. Plus, I thought this would be a nice gesture since you guys let me stay here last night and didn't throw me in the pool for waking you up so late."

"You could never wake us up too late," Stephanie told her.

"Where are the girls? I was going to make Belgian waffles," Maryn explained. "Well, I hoped to, you guys have a waffle iron, don't you? I wasn't sure and I didn't want to be banging around your kitchen so early and make you think I was another intruder."

"How'd you know we thought you were an intruder?" Stephanie asked.

"I saw you holding the bat last night and I figured that you weren't going for a ball game," Maryn said with a laugh. "I just wanted to show my appreciation for being the best brother and sister-in-law."

"The girls are still sleeping, we usually wake up before them and we make breakfast then we go get them ready for the day. Except our breakfasts usually consist of oatmeal or toast or cereal."

"Oh my God, the girls can eat this stuff, right? I thought they could."

"No, what Stephanie is trying to say," Chris laughed, "is that we're not great cooks or have the time to really cook so we usually stick to simple stuff, but we're very happy that you made us breakfast."

"I hope that I didn't cause you guys to fight last night," Maryn said sheepishly. "It's just you two seemed a little on edge after I told you what happened, you especially Chris because you're a hothead, but I just wanted to make sure that you guys were okay because I don't think I can take another marital fight."

"We're fine," Stephanie assured her, smiling shyly over at her husband. She and Chris were the kind of people who fought hard, but never let the fights last too long. It just wasn't in their nature to fight for very long, with other people sure, but they had to sleep next to each other every night so it made fighting difficult.

"Yeah, we're good," Chris said, smiling back at his wife. "Just needed to talk some things out."

"Like normal married couples," Maryn said sullenly, "not like married couples who have huge blowouts and a wife who punches her husband and then storms off."

"I've punched Chris," Stephanie shrugged. "When he deserves it, I've punched him."

"I, on the other hand, have never hit Stephanie," Chris said, "so the odds aren't even." Chris cleared his throat and leaned against the counter as Stephanie got the waffle iron out for Maryn. "So…has Shane called or anything?"

"I turned my phone off, I'm not really ready to talk to him right now," Maryn said. "I figured that it would be best if we just let ourselves calm the hell down first. I know that I'm in no mood for another fight and I'm sure he isn't either so if we're going to talk, I think it's better with cool heads."

"I think that's a smart idea," Stephanie said, placing the waffle iron on the counter and plugging it in. She squeezed Maryn's shoulder. "Fights happen. My brother was obviously being an idiot, but I'm sure that he realizes that fact."

"Yeah, I know men can be idiots," Maryn said, looking over at her brother, who feigned shock. "Yeah, you, don't look at me like that. You know that there have been plenty of times where you have been a major idiot."

"Name one."

"The first time you came home after you started dating Stephanie," Maryn said smugly. Stephanie's eyes widened and she looked between the brother and sister, trying to glean onto what kind of story this was. Maryn picked up on the look and she laughed, "He never told you the story, Steph?"

"I don't think he has."

"Shut up, Mar," Chris said, but there was a distinct redness burning over his cheeks. "Stephanie does not need to hear this story."

"This is a good idiot story though," Maryn said with a giggle as she recalled it, "and as your sister, it is absolutely my job to embarrass you whenever and wherever I can. It's called the sibling privilege, I'm surprised you've never heard of it."

"Let me hear the story," Stephanie urged her.

"Steph, we better go get the girls," Chris tried to cut in. "They're probably awake or almost awake and we should really get them up so they can enjoy the waffles, plus all of Maryn's other goodies."

"Oh, the bacon," Maryn said, turning to the stove. First, she took the eggs out of the pan, putting them onto a plate before taking the strips of bacon and laying them on a paper towel. "Anyways, I can cook and talk."

"The girls," Chris reminded her.

"They can wait five minutes," Stephanie said, "go on, Mar, I want to hear this."

"Well, it was about a two months after you started dating, I think. Anyways, so he comes home, right, I had to be about…let's see, I think I may have just turned 19 or I was going to turn 19, anyways, I was home for the weekend and so was Chris and we were staying with my mom and so Chris was always a mama's boy, you knew this-"

"Oh, yes, I knew this," Stephanie glanced at her blushing husband.

"Anyways, so we're eating dinner and Chris was helping Mom and so out of the blue he just told her that he was dating someone and we were both shocked and Chris just said that it was you and we were, again, both shocked, my mom more so because she hadn't met you yet, but I guess, I don't know, I guess I kind of saw something the couple times I met you. Anyways, my brother was head over heels idiotic in love with you."

"You were?" Stephanie asked, looking over at her husband, who was so red now, it looked like he had a sunburn going.

"Shut up, Maryn," Chris muttered.

"He could not stop talking about you, he was just going on and on, 'Mom, you should meet her. She's the most incredible woman I've ever met. She's the one, I just know it. I know it's only been a few months, but I can't help but want to spend every minute with her. You're going to love her, Mom, you will absolutely love her.' He went on and on and on about you. It was seriously cute, but idiotic all the same."

"Okay, we get it, I was crazy about Stephanie, who ended up being my wife so it was justified," Chris said in a disinterested voice.

"No, wait, she has to hear the capper," Maryn said. "It's really very sweet, but when he was done with his rant, he goes, and I still remember it to this day because it was about the sweetest thing I ever heard, he goes, 'Mom, for the longest time, I didn't believe in love. Not with what I do, but she's proving me wrong every second.'"

"Chris," Stephanie said, her voice taking on a decidedly different tone.

"Okay, the girls," Chris said, storming out of the room, but then he came back in a second later, "I'm getting you back for this, Maryn, don't think I won't." Then he stormed out again.

"Brothers," Maryn rolled her eyes, "so whatever fight you had last night, that's how my brother feels about you, Steph."

"I wasn't still mad at him, Mar."

"I know, but save it for the next time," she winked at her sister-in-law. She looked exactly like her brother when she said it too. Stephanie hugged Maryn and then went upstairs, where Chris was already taking Murphy out of her crib.

"I think it's beautiful what you said."

"You weren't supposed to know," he told her.

"Why not?" Stephanie asked curiously.

"Because it's embarrassing and at that point in our relationship, I felt like I was at a different point than you were, like, I loved you and I wasn't sure if you loved me, but then I found out shortly after you did and whatever," she shrugged as he brought Murphy over to the changing table to take care of her diaper.

Stephanie hugged his upper arm briefly, "You know by now that I was crazy about you from the moment I saw you pretty much."

"Yeah, now, but then, not so much."

"You know what it sounds like to me?"

"What does it sound like to you?" Chris asked.

"It sounds like Shane and Maryn," Stephanie told him as Chris groaned at the comparison. "No, no, no, hear me out, okay. I'm just saying, it didn't take us very long to fall for each other, to realize that this thing we had going was potentially the best thing for the both of us, yet here you are, condemning our brother and sister for the exact same thing. Chris, you loved me then, that moment and you probably would have married me, right?"

"Yes," he answered immediately.

"So they skipped all the time in between," she told him. "That's all."

"We're so different."

"Are we?" Stephanie said. "We may be less impulsive than our siblings, but that doesn't mean they're any less devoted to each other."

"Mama," Murphy cooed from the changing table.

"I've got her, can you go get Aurora?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, I've got her," he said, leaving the room.

Aurora was already awake and trying to get dressed when Chris walked into her room. He got her dressed properly and went downstairs. Just as he was letting Aurora down, the doorbell rang. He knew who it was without even checking. It had to be that douchebag brother-in-law of his. The odds were horribly stacked against him while in this house. Both his wife and his sister would get on him if he so much as dared lay a hand on Shane.

"Rora, Auntie Maryn made breakfast, go get some waffles while I get the door, okay," he kissed the top of her head, punctuating his point.

"I can see who's at the door," Aurora reasoned.

"I know you can, but waffles and bacon, if you don't get in there, I'm going to eat all your food." This made Aurora scurry into the kitchen and Chris thanked the Lord that Maryn had been playing the radio in the kitchen to buy him some time with his dear brother-in-law. He got to the door and opened it, sliding outside and pushing Shane back a little, not too hard, but with enough force to give them some space. "What do you want?"

"I know Maryn's here, her car is here," Shane said, pointing to the driveway. "I wanted to talk to her."

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to you," Chris challenged him.

"Does she? Or are you just speaking for her now?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Chris asked. "You come here, acting like you are some kind of good guy when you accuse my sister of cheating on you. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my entire life. How dare you make my sister look like a slut."

"Look, I'm here to apologize and ask her to come home," Shane said, "but what, are you going to bar me from your home now?"

"I wish I could, but just know that this…I don't tolerate this. I don't tolerate my sister coming to my house at 2:30 in the morning in tears. I don't want it to happen anymore. She deserves better than to feel like she's being driven out of her own home. I don't like you, Shane, I think it's been pretty clear thus far that I don't and I know you don't like me either, I _get_ that, but we better have an understanding here. You hurt Stephanie or Maryn, I will break you, I will break you in half. Now come on inside."

Chris opened the door and Shane followed reluctantly behind him. He went into the kitchen where Stephanie and Maryn were helping to get the kids fed. "Look who I found lurking outside," Chris jerked his thumb towards Shane.

Maryn sat up a little straighter, "Shane, what are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize, Mar," Shane said, coming over and kneeling next to her. "I was upset last night and I was tired and just on edge from work and I blew up. I mean, look at you, you're gorgeous and it's hard sometimes not to think that some guy could…I don't know, take you away. I just don't want that to happen."

"Okay," Maryn said, biting her lip a little bit.

"I'm so sorry for accusing you of all that stuff I said."

"What did you say, Uncle Shane?" Aurora asked.

"Some mean stuff, Aurora," he told her, then turned back to Maryn. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, I would never want that."

"Can we talk about this later?" Maryn asked. "When I'm not eating breakfast with my family?"

"Yeah, of course," Shane said, "I just want you to know that I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Maryn said to him. "I just don't want you to forget this if it ever comes up again. I love you, that's why I married you. But I do not take kindly to be accused of things that I didn't do."

"I know that," Shane said, "I won't do it again."

"You really hurt me."

"Hurting is bad," Aurora added.

"Yeah, Rora Bora, it is bad," Maryn said. "I want to forgive you, Shane, but it's hard because you were such a jerk to me."

"I will make it up to you, I promise," Shane said.

"Shane, why don't you at least stay for breakfast," Stephanie said, "you guys can sort everything out after you've had a good meal. You're both probably exhausted and could use something to eat."

"If it's okay with Mar," Shane told her and Maryn nodded so Shane took a seat next to her. Chris hated that his wife was so diplomatic. She got it from her constant dealings with irate wrestlers, but he wished she didn't have it in this moment.

"Chris, you going to come eat?" Stephanie asked, gesturing him over.

He had no choice except to sit down, but he glared at Shane the entire time.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Thanks again for all the lovely reviews, everyone, I really appreciate them and love them. I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of sibling interaction so I really wanted a little bit of that to get some sibling banter going on so I hope that you enjoy the chapter and reviews would be lovely, thanks! :)

* * *

"So between siblings, what exactly _are_ the perks of being married into the McMahon family?"

Chris could tell she was joking. She was his sister and he'd known her, her whole life so of course he knew when she was joking. Even if he didn't know her so well, the smile and look of mischief on her face was more than enough to convince him. She wore what Stephanie deemed the Irvine look. Apparently, Aurora had a pretty strong Irvine look as well.

He still couldn't get past the fact that his sister's name now was Maryn McMahon. It sounded so strange after knowing her as Maryn Irvine for her entire life. He was still trying to get used to the idea that his sister was married to Shane and while he had gotten better over the last few weeks (Stephanie could be _very_ persuasive), this was something he still had to get used to. Maryn McMahon. It didn't even really sound all that good.

"What do you want?" he joked back as they languished in the hallway just talking to each other. Sometimes he was so happy his sister was here because despite all the support he had and despite the fact that his wife was one his bosses, his sister could get him in a way that nobody else could.

"Some women that can wrestle," Maryn laughed.

Chris had to chuckle at this too. He took great pride in the fact that his sister was a competent and downright great wrestler amid a sea of floozies and bimbos who modeled their way into the ring. He also had a hand in everything Maryn knew about wrestling so why shouldn't he be proud of her accomplishments? "Not feeling challenged?"

"Remember how you felt in 2005 when you were burnt out and it just felt like there wasn't anything challenging you anymore?"

"Are you thinking about taking a break?" he wondered.

"No, it's nothing like that, I have the passion, that hasn't gone anywhere and I'm not burnt out, I just don't feel like I have that challenge anymore. There's only one women's belt and yeah, it's great to be holding it and whatever and I'm glad to be the champion, but it feels so…I don't know how to explain it. I try to have matches with these girls and it's like, I can't. Beth and Nattie know what I mean. When I'm in the ring with them, it's totally different, then I get in the ring with like…Kelly Kelly and I feel like I have to dumb myself down."

"I know what you mean," Chris told her.

"You see it, don't you?" Maryn shook her head, her blonde hair getting in her face and she pushed it back impatiently like she couldn't be bothered with it at the moment. "You see me in my matches with them and _of course_ you see it because you know what goes on. I just…I don't feel like it's my place to say anything."

"What do you have on tap for tonight?" he asked.

"A match against Nikki Bella," Maryn said and if her eyes rolled any further they'd roll right into the back of her head and she'd be able to see her brain. "I'm defending my belt against her, but I'm retaining."

"Exciting," he said, trying and failing to sound enthusiastic. "You know, it's totally within your rights to say something."

"I don't feel like it is though," she bit her lip and Chris reached out to rub her shoulder. "Don't pity me, Chris, I hate when you pity me."

"It would have been so much easier if you'd been born a boy, I know," Chris teased her. "I told Mom that I really would like a little brother. I mean, I had to wait all those years for you, I was practically a teenager by the time you were born. You should have just been a boy."

"Bring _that_ up with dad, it was all him," Maryn giggled, her brother diffusing the situation for a moment. "That's gross, isn't it?"

"Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, Mom and Dad had sex twice, to make me and to make you and that's all I want to know about it. I'm okay with Rora and Murphy thinking the same exact thing," he laughed and Maryn made a face.

"Mom would know what to do," Maryn said with a sigh. "She would tell me something like you go out there and you pound them into the ring and show them what it's like to be a real wrestler."

Chris looked down at his feet and smiled a little. Sometimes, hearing about his mom made those damn tears prick behind his eyes, especially when it was around someone with whom he didn't have to put up walls. Five years and the wound was still as raw as it ever was. He knew it was for Maryn too and she reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze before letting it drop back down.

"She would have."

"I should probably just do that," Maryn said, biting her lip and trying to remember that her mother was probably better off now and they still had Bonnie, who was as wonderful a stepmother any two people could ask for. "Or talk to Dad."

"Dad will tell you to kill them in the ring," Chris said, "at least Mom would've been subtle about it."

"Bonnie then?"

"Bonnie would just tell you to come eat some cookies," Chris told her and she laughed and nodded because that's exactly what their stepmother would do. "That reminds me Nessa called me and she wants us all up there for Easter."

"Yeah, I think Shane and I can swing that, why is Nessa _always_ the one hosting these things. Maybe I want to host something?"

"You better claim Christmas if that's what you want, give her plenty of notice, she's already going to want us for Canadian Thanksgiving," Chris said. Their stepsister meant well, but she was a bit of a control freak, whereas Chris and Maryn were much more laidback. It went without saying that Vanessa and Stephanie got along fabulously.

Maryn got a nostalgic look in her eyes and Chris pulled her into a hug, knowing without being told that she was thinking about their mom again and how holidays had been when they were younger. Maryn banded her arms around her brother and rested her head against his shoulder blade. Sometimes all you really needed was a hug from your big brother to make you feel better.

"I'm okay," Maryn said, pulling away and giving her brother a smile to reassure him that she was okay. "Hey, by the way, where is your family?"

"Catering probably," Chris said. "Murphy was hungry and then because Murphy was hungry, Rora decided she was hungry so Stephanie took them to get some food I think."

"And you're not with them, why?"

"I saw you and I wanted to talk to my sister, is that a crime?" Chris asked and she shook her head. "Sometimes I feel like we don't get to see each other as much as two siblings who work together should."

"We're both married now though," Maryn said. "Plus, you have two kids."

"That shouldn't be an excuse." Chris looked over his sister's shoulder and saw Shane walking towards them. He kept the groan inside but it was simmering in there. Shane spotted him first and then looked to Chris's left and saw that it was Maryn with Chris. His eyebrows furrowed a little bit and he walked over. "Shane."

"Chris," Shane said politely, then turned to Maryn. "What the hell are you wearing?"

"Excuse me?" Maryn asked, turning to face her husband.

"What is this?" he gestured towards her outfit. She was already in her wrestling gear and it was pretty much standard fare for the divas. She looked down at her top, a glorified sports bra with sleeves, but nothing was hanging out and she was wearing short shorts, but still, everything was covered. At least she wasn't wrestling in some of the stuff the Bellas or Alicia Fox wrestled in.

"It's my wrestling gear," Maryn told him with annoyance. "The things I wrestle in."

"What happened to the pants that you wear?" he asked.

"I didn't bring them and these were just made for me," Maryn told him, "are you honestly going to be angry about this? Because if you are, then I suppose I'll have to get into fighting mode."

"I just don't like guys ogling you."

"Yeah, I think that it's too late for that, it's part of the business, you knew I was a wrestler so you deal with it," Maryn shrugged. She wasn't the type to take things like this sitting down and she was very much like her brother in that respect. Chris was kind of proud of her, even though he had to concede that Shane had a point. He hated the fact that anyone ogled his little sister. But he also had to realize that his sister was in a business where this kind of thing was considered the norm and in order to keep up, she had to conform to the norm.

"Fine," he said, giving up the fight. "Sorry if I just don't like guys picturing my wife in next to nothing."

"Even if I were a housewife, guys' minds go there anyways, I could go out in a sheet and still people would," Maryn told him.

"Okay, fine, fine, fine, I'll be in our locker room, I've got some work to do," he leaned over and kissed her cheek before walking off. Maryn scowled and then looked at her brother.

"Don't you start in on me, got it," she told him, putting her finger in his face. "I wear what I want to wear when I want to wear it."

Chris put his hands up defensively. "I didn't say anything! I wasn't going to. You're an adult and Stephanie reminds me of that all the time so I'm not going to say anything about it."

"Yo, Chris!" Randy called out ahead of him. "I needed to talk about our match later!"

"Okay, coming, you okay?" Chris asked his sister, eyeing her critically. She nodded and Chris jogged over to Randy, leaving her behind.

Stephanie rested her head on the table for a moment, closing her eyes. It was short-lived, however, when she felt a small hand touch her face. "Mommy, you okay?"

"I'm just not feeling well," Stephanie said and it was true. She wasn't feeling well. She'd woken up with a kind of bug that was just making her exhausted and she wanted to take a nap, but couldn't. She was about to speak again when Maryn plopped herself down next to Murphy. "Maryn, hey."

"What's wrong?" Maryn asked.

"I just don't feel well, what's with the face?"

"I don't know, I don't…I don't feel like I can talk about it with you of all people, but I don't feel close enough to anyone here to talk to them either and I hate it and I'm sorry," Maryn sighed, "I shouldn't even be here, I should just go back to my locker room."

"No, you know you can talk to me about anything, we're sisters," Stephanie said, "well, like your sister, about as close as a sister you're going to get at this point, minus Vanessa of course."

"Yeah," Maryn said, "Shane and I fight a lot and I don't…I hate it. I'm not saying that it's the worst thing ever. I just think that it could be better, God, you must think I'm horrible, he's your brother and-"

"Shane is not perfect," Stephanie interrupted.

"I think it's more than that though," Maryn told Stephanie and she bit her lip and looked off, distractedly. She looked like she didn't want to really say what she was thinking and that was unusual for an Irvine. In her life with Chris, he never hesitated to tell her what he was thinking. From all she'd been around Maryn, Stephanie could say the same about her. So this was unusual.

"What is it? You love my brother, I know you do."

"I think he might be cheating on me."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Thanks for the reviews again. I think the story is about to get heavier so I hope you continue to read and enjoy, review if you'd like, no pressure! :)

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"Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's a _lot_ to lay on me, Mar."

"I know," she said, looking down at the table and finding the pattern to be fascinating. "I'm sorry, but I didn't know who else to talk to, I didn't know who else I could possibly trust, you know. I mean, you're my best friend here. Everyone else I love or trust still lives in Winnipeg or Toronto and…I shouldn't have placed this on you."

"No, you should have," Stephanie said, "I just don't feel like this is the venue where we should be talking about this. I mean, anyone can here and this sounds like a pretty serious talk. Do you have time after the show?"

"Yeah, I'm not really doing anything," Maryn said.

"Okay, then after the show, Chris and I will put the kids to bed and I'll throw him out of the room," Stephanie told her. "He'll probably be grateful to get a night away from me. He's been itching to hang out with his friends so you can come over and we'll talk."

"Please don't tell Chris about this," Maryn begged her. "I don't want him to know about this and I know you guys are married and you're really not supposed to keep secrets from each other, but you know how he is, you know how he'll react if he even gets wind of anything."

Stephanie knew all too well how Chris would react. He was very much a react first, think later kind of person and he was fiercely protective of those in his life. If he even so much as thought that Maryn thought Shane was cheating on her, he would find Shane and pulverize him. She frowned at the thought, but she could keep this from him until she got to the bottom of things. Chris didn't need to know _everything_ in the world and sometimes it was better not to know things.

"I won't say anything to him, I'll just tell him that it's a girl's thing and we needed time together," Stephanie said then reached for Maryn's hand, giving it a squeeze. "We'll figure out whatever is going on, okay? I promise you, I'm there for you, always. We're sisters now."

Maryn gave her the same lopsided grin Chris did whenever he was bashful about something. Maryn leaned forward and gave Stephanie a hug, "Thank you so much, I'm so glad my brother married you because you're so amazing."

"Thanks," Stephanie said, patting her on the back.

"I better go for now though," Maryn said, "I've got a match tonight against Nikki Bella and I better start warming up for it and then I have to meet her to make sure she doesn't screw things up on me."

"Okay, meet me at our hotel room around midnight, we're in room 1706," Stephanie told her and Maryn nodded before disappearing.

"Mommy, was Auntie Maryn okay?" Aurora asked as she shoveled some rice into her mouth. "She looked kinda sad."

"I think she'll be okay," Stephanie told her daughter. "Sometimes we just have moments where we're sad, but then when we think about things, we get all better and we're happy again."

"I want Auntie Maryn to be happy again," Aurora decided with a smile and Stephanie smiled back at her.

She tried to refocus on her meal, but it was difficult with what Maryn suspected weighing on her mind. There were so many thoughts trying to vie for Stephanie's attention. Her brother a cheater? She didn't want to think about it. She loved her brother, despite their differences. When she was little, she'd looked up to her brother. While that sentiment had certainly faded over the years, he was still her brother and she loved him and didn't want to think the worst of him. Still, she couldn't discount what Maryn was saying. She didn't have all the facts, though, so she didn't want to just condemn her brother if there was really no evidence against him.

Then her mind started thinking about the outcomes if Shane was, in fact, cheating on Maryn. She would hate him, for one, or would she? No, she couldn't condone cheating, she could never condone cheating. Her father had cheated on her mother and while her mother always displayed a quiet confidence, Stephanie knew she had been broken for a long time because of that. She also knew that cheating was so prevalent in this business. Guys were on the road so much, for so long that they would inevitably slip up, one woman here, one woman there.

There were exceptions, of course, her husband being one of them. She spent time on the road and she knew Chris and she knew some of the guys here who would never cheat on their wives, but it happened. It happened and she didn't want to let that be an excuse because Maryn deserved better than that. This whole thing was putting her between a rock and a hard place. It was so hard to know who was right and who was wrong and when the final results came in, how to react to that.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"

Stephanie broke from her thoughts and looked at Aurora, "Yes, Rora?"

"We're done," she said, pointing to her plate and to Murphy's plate. Stephanie looked between them and she was right, they were both done.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my sweets," Stephanie said, "I didn't realize."

"You're not done," Aurora told her.

"I'm not very hungry anymore," Stephanie told her, standing up and picking up their trays so she could dispose of them.

"But you 'posed to eats all on your plate," Aurora chastised her.

"I know," Stephanie said, "but just this once, I don't think I'm going to. We're going to head back to Daddy's locker room because he's going to take care of you until he has to go out there. Then you can sit with me at the gorilla."

"Fun, fun, fun!" Aurora said.

"Fun!" Murphy echoed and Stephanie helped Murphy out of her high chair while Aurora followed along like Stephanie's shadow. They arrived at their locker room and Stephanie opened the door for Aurora and stepped inside herself to see Chris putting wrist tape around his wrists.

"Hey, there are my girls," Chris said, smiling up at them.

"Hi, Daddy," Aurora bounced over and sat down next to Chris.

"Hey," Chris said brightly as he kissed her head.

"Chris, I wanted to talk to you about something," Stephanie said as she sat down on the other side of Aurora.

"Okay, this sounds serious," Chris told her, narrowing his eyes as he looked at her. He didn't like the way she was looking at him right now and that's when he got worried. "What's wrong? Is there something wrong? Are you mad at me? Are you upset with me or something? You have that look on you face where it's like you're upset with me? Did I do something?"

"No, calm down," she said, reaching around Aurora to take Chris's hand. Aurora took Chris's other hand just for the hell of it. Murphy had gone off to play with her toys as she didn't care what was being discussed. Chris looked down at Aurora, who peered up at him happily. "I was just going to tell you that you can go out tonight."

"What? Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because your sister wants a girl's night in and we're going to talk and have a little late night pig-out fest."

"Oh, is that all?" Chris said, scoffing at himself for being so paranoid. It had just looked like his wife had something very serious to tell him. "So you're just kicking me out of the hotel room for a while?"

"Yeah, besides, you're always looking to go out with the guys so this is your opportunity."

"That's cool, I can find something to do," he leaned over and kissed her, "don't scare me like that, you had me worried that you were going to tell me you were in love with another guy, that Aurora and Murphy were his, and you were divorcing me."

Stephanie gave a forced laugh and thought of her sister-in-law, who probably had all those thoughts running through her own head. Instead, she just gazed her husband, thankful that she'd never had to go through anything like that. She pressed her hand to his neck and ran her finger over his pulse point as he made a funny face at her before pulling away to put on the rest of his wrist tape, letting Aurora help out with it.

Chris made plans to hang out with the guys that night so when Maryn showed up, he was already gone. Stephanie let her into the hotel room, having already closed the door to the girls' room. Stephanie had also taken the liberty of ordering up about five different desserts from room service so they could have junk food to eat in case this got heavy. Maryn made a beeline for the ice cream sundae and stuffed her mouth with a huge scoop as she plopped herself down on the sofa.

"Okay, so what's going on?" Stephanie asked as she noted how miserable Maryn looked at the moment.

"I don't even know, I can't even really put my finger on it," Maryn said, "but things have been getting weird and I don't want to accuse Shane of anything that I don't completely know, but things have been weird."

"Define weird because it sounds like you haven't actually caught him doing anything," Stephanie said and Maryn shook her head as if to agree.

"I haven't actually caught him doing anything, no, but there's just this vibe I've been getting, like he's not all there with me," Maryn said. "I don't know, I guess there's a chance I _could_ be overreacting, but like, okay, so he's been picking fights over the stupidest, littlest things."

"Like what?"

"Like the other day I left out a pair of gloves that I'd been using to clean the bathtub and he got on my case for leaving stuff around like that instead of putting it in its place, it's like he _wants_ me to get mad at him. Then, I simply put his phone on the counter because I found it on the coffee table. I didn't look at it or anything and he starts yelling at me for invading his privacy. Is that normal? Does Chris yell at you?"

"No," Stephanie admitted, "Chris actually has me hold his phone a lot of the time because he usually forgets where he puts it at home and if there's an important call he hates to miss it."

"See, Chris doesn't care that you look at his phone while me simply putting his phone in a different place is grounds for yelling at me."

"Yelling is all he does, right?" Stephanie asked gently, hoping that her brother was not actually abusing his wife. Then she'd have to put an end to that immediately and tell Chris.

"God no," Maryn said, "your brother isn't like that, plus, I think if it came down to it, I could probably take down your brother."

Stephanie thought about Maryn, looked at her muscles and decided she probably could take down her brother. "Okay, good, because if he ever touches you, you can come to me or Chris and we'll hurt him."

"I know, it's not like that, but why doesn't he want me near his phone?" Maryn took another huge scoop of ice cream. "Then you know where he is right now?"

"No, where?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Maryn said, her eyes tearing up. "He just left me a message on my phone saying he'll be out until late, but that he loves me and he'll see me in the morning because he doesn't want me waiting up for him. I tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail."

Stephanie sighed. She didn't have an explanation for that, not a good one anyways. "I don't know what to say about that, Mar, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Maryn said, "I mean, what is there to really say? I could ask him, but he'd probably jump all over me if I did. I love your brother, Steph, I really do, but if he's…if this…I won't put up with it."

"Nobody would expect you too. If Chris were doing that to me, I would leave his ass so fast…"

"Except Chris never would," Maryn said. "God, Chris loves you and that's all I want from my marriage. It sucks that I have to see this great marriage and then I look at mine and we haven't even been married a year, that's the saddest part of all. It's like everything has gone downhill so fast and I can't even catch up to it at all. I feel like I've been smacked in the face or something."

Stephanie sighed again and closed her eyes. "Let's not totally jump to conclusions, okay? I will talk to my brother, he can get mad at me all he wants, but I can talk to him and at least try and get to the bottom of this."

"I can't ask you to do that, Stephanie," Maryn said, "I don't want you to fight my battles for me, besides, he'll probably just blame me or yell at me for telling you my concerns."

"He's my brother, maybe I can get through to him. If I were fighting with Chris, you'd want to step in, right?"

"Yeah and smack him in the head," Maryn joked.

Stephanie laughed, "See, you would do something, let me do something. I don't want you to be unhappy and I know you love Shane and I want to see you two work out. Maybe there's a reasonable explanation and we're both overlooking it because we're looking at things through suspicious eyes."

"I really hope so," Maryn said, looking down at her lap. Stephanie just wanted to hold her in her arms like she did with Aurora and Murphy when they were sad. It was really times like these that Maryn needed a mother. Stephanie scooted over and took Maryn in her arms, cradling her head as she felt Maryn start to cry. Stephanie just ran her hand over Maryn's head, smoothing her hair down and letting her cry.

It only made Stephanie more determined to find out what the hell was going on with her brother. He would be an idiot to throw away someone as wonderful as Maryn. She was one of the nicest, kindest, warmest people she'd ever known in her life and she loved having her as part of her family. She'd welcomed Stephanie gladly into her family, treated her like a true sister and Shane needed to recognize the kind of catch he'd managed to get. Men would fall all over themselves to be with Maryn and she had chosen Shane and he was not going to treat her like crap any longer if Stephanie had anything to say about things.

"Don't worry, Mar, I'm here and I'm going to get to the bottom of this."


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Once again, thank you all SO much for the wonderful reviews. I'm so pleased you're liking this story and I hope you'll like this chapter as well. So enjoy, and if you want to leave more reviews, I won't stop you! :)

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"Shane?"

Shane looked up from the clutter on his desk and saw his sister standing in the doorway. She looked the consummate professional at the moment. She was wearing her hair pulled back into a slick ponytail, with the perfect makeup to accentuate her features, but still make her look intimidating. Her black pantsuit was tailored and she was staring him down in that way that meant business.

"What is it, Stephanie?" Shane asked in exasperation. "I'm trying to find those files Dad needed, but I seemed to have mislocated them."

"I'm sure you'll find them," Stephanie took a few steps into his office, scanning the area as if she'd find something to incriminate her brother with. Of course, there was nothing, but that didn't stop her from looking. She fiddled with her wedding and engagement ring on her left hand as Shane looked through a few more things on his desk. "I'm willing to bet if you actually organized your things, you'd know exactly what you were looking for."

"I don't need the lecture, Steph," Shane told her, glancing up at her disapproving face. "What now?"

"I'm just saying if you were more organized, Dad wouldn't be on your ass about these things," Stephanie simply told him, hoping she'd get through to him. Her father had always had a soft spot for Shane. Where Vince challenged her to be better than she was, he'd always been easy on Shane.

When Stephanie had first started dating Chris, her father had been wary about her relationship with the man. He was like that with every man she dated, but it seemed more with Chris, probably because it was clear from the beginning that Chris was her endgame. Stephanie had been angry at first, but both she and Chris knew that the only way to allay Vince's fears was to show him through their own actions, and after that, they stopped worrying about his opinion.

It was only at her wedding that Linda told her why Vince was always so hard on her. Vince saw himself in her and knew she was destined for greatness. He wanted to push her beyond her limits, and he wasn't sure if Chris was the right kind of man who could fit into that scheme. Vince had been wrong, of course, but he only wanted the best of the best for her. With Shane, Linda had told her, it was different. Shane was so content with where he was that any pushing or prodding was done forcefully and not with the intention to be greatness, but to just be.

It became evident to Stephanie, as she grew up, that her parents had been correct in their assessment of her and her brother. They didn't love either one of them any more or less than the other, but the two of them were so drastically different. Stephanie could never stand to be behind with her work, but Shane was willing to coast through life as his leisure.

"We get it, be more organized," Shane huffed in annoyance. "Now is there a reason you came in here to harass me or what?"

"I wanted to take you out to dinner tonight," Stephanie told him, smiling charmingly at him, but Shane narrowed his eyes anyways.

"You want to go out to dinner? With me?"

"Yes, with you," Stephanie nodded in confirmation. "I thought it would be a very nice gesture, plus, there are some things I needed to discuss with you, and I figured having dinner would be the best thing."

"What kind of things? Work things?" Shane asked again.

"Sure, work things, whatever," Stephanie told him, "Look, is it so crazy that I want to have dinner with you? Maryn and Chris are going to have dinner tonight too, she invited him to have dinner with her and he's bringing the girls. So…it was just going to be me anyways and I thought I'd take her lead."

That wasn't entirely the truth. Maryn _was_ coming over for dinner and had invited Chris and the girls, but it wasn't for innocent purposes. Stephanie had told Maryn her intentions and this was just part of the plan to get a chance to talk to Shane without interference, namely her husband. Chris just thought it was a nice gesture from his sister and had no reservations about it. Of course, Chris and Maryn were a lot closer than she and Shane were.

"Maryn didn't tell me she was having dinner with Chris," Shane pursed his lips.

"I'm sure she would have let you know," Stephanie said, taking in his expression, wondering if he was going to yell at her about that as well. If everything she said to him tonight got through that thick skull of his, he wouldn't be needlessly yelling at his wife again.

"Yeah, I guess," Shane said, "whatever, I'll go to dinner with you, what time are you staying until?"

"I was thinking 5:30 and then we could head out?" she asked.

"Fine," he nodded, "now can you please let me get back to what I was doing. I've got to find these papers for Dad or he's going to be so pissed off and I don't need to deal with that right now," Shane ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Sorry," Stephanie held her hands up and headed out of the room. She made for the elevator and went back up to her own floor, where a surprise was waiting for her. She opened the door to her office and saw her husband and daughters sitting on the couch. Aurora was bouncing in her seat, but Murphy was cuddled into Chris's arms, sucking on her pacifier and just watching the scene. "Hey, you guys, what are you doing here?"

"We just wanted to drop by and say hello before we went to the shopping mall because we're…what?" Chris asked his oldest daughter.

"Present for Auntie Maryn!" Aurora supplied for her daddy, smiling at him with a silly grin. He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"That's absolutely right," Chris said, "since Auntie Maryn invited us to dinner, we thought it would be nice to get her something."

"I get to help pick…any Murphy too," Auror added proudly. "I gonna pick the best one, Mommy."

"I bet you are," Stephanie said as she walked over to her desk and saw a small bouquet of lilies on her desk. "Now what is this?"

Aurora giggled at her daddy before she looked over at her mommy, "We gots that for you, Mommy. Daddy said it would be nice, d'you like it?"

"I love it, thank you," Stephanie came over and kissed Aurora on the head and then Murphy before ending with Chris. "I invited Shane to dinner so you and Maryn can have a brother/sister dinner as well."

"You and Shane, I never thought I'd see the day," Chris laughed, "what the hell are you two going to talk about?"

"Things, we can discuss things," Stephanie shrugged, grabbing the flowers off her desk and then grabbing an empty vase she had on one of her shelves for just this kind of thing. When she and Chris were still dating, he would buy her flowers all the time, obviously trying to get on her good side, but since then, she'd always had a vase at the ready. "Besides, he's my brother, it should be easy to talk to him."

"Yeah, the only thing easy to do around Shane is walk away from him," Chris told her and she playfully glared at him, but then laughed. "You know it's true, I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I can't do it. Your brother and I will just always live in different circles."

"I know," she told him, "I understand, I'm not pushing it."

And she wouldn't push it either. After what Maryn admitted to Stephanie, the last thing she wanted was her brother to be out with her husband. Chris already didn't like Shane, but if he even had an inkling of what Maryn thought, Shane would come into contact with a very angry fist. She didn't want them to fight unless she had proof that something was going on. If Shane was cheating on Maryn, there was no way she could stop him from beating up Shane…and she wasn't sure she wanted to stop if him if that was the case.

"Thank you," Chris said.

"Daddy, we's gotta go get presents," Aurora reminded him, tugging on his shirt. "We can't forgets."

"Okay, okay," Chris told his daughter, sticking his tongue out at her. "God forbid I want to see your mother."

"_Daddy_," she dragged the word out as far as she possibly could, "you see Mommy all the time, you sleeps in the same bed." She said it so diplomatically that both Chris and Stephanie started laughing.

"She's got me there," Chris said, standing up and walking over to Stephanie, "I guess I'll see you when you get home tonight after your dinner?"

"Yeah, you will, since we sleep in the same bed," Stephanie joked and Chris leaned forward to kiss her goodbye. After, Stephanie kissed both the girls before she walked them to the elevator before they left. She smiled and waved as the doors closed then went back to her office to finish up her work.

She got lost in it and didn't realize it was 5:30 until Shane came to the door and knocked on the frame. "Are you kidding me? You're not even ready to go?"

"Sorry, I have a lot to do," Stephanie said, gathering up her papers and putting them in her inbox so they would be the first things she'd see the next morning. "It's not like it takes me forever to get ready."

"I just thought you might have actually stopped working for once," he told her and she knew there was joking in his tone so she flipped him off. He chuckled to himself and she took another stack of papers and put it into her bag. "You're taking work _home_ with you?"

"Just have to look over some things," Stephanie told him. Shane had nothing on him. "Are we going to take your car or meet some place, which is better for you?"

"We can meet some place, that way we don't have to come back here," Shane said. Stephanie nodded and they ironed out the details, deciding on a nice Thai place they both enjoyed. Shane walked her down to her car and she got inside before he closed the door for her. Occasionally, her brother wasn't a jackass. He followed her to the restaurant where they were promptly seated and after getting their drinks and ordering their meal, Stephanie placed her palms down on the table and looked at her brother.

"I need to talk to you."

"I knew it," Shane said, "I knew this wasn't a social thing. If this is something about work—"

"It's about Maryn," Stephanie said.

"What about her?"

"It's about the fact that you yell at her over the stupidest things," Stephanie told him. "What the hell is the matter with you, Shane?"

"I don't yell at her, I merely tell her things," Shane tried to argue and Stephanie made a face at him. "She shouldn't have been touching my phone. I bet Chris doesn't like it when you touch his phone."

"Chris let's me keep his phone on my person if we're out together. He always forgets it, so I keep it for him, he doesn't care, he doesn't go off the deep end, but it's not about me and Chris, it's about how you treat your wife."

"I can't believe she went tattling to you."

"She didn't tattle, there's no tattling," Stephanie told him, shaking her head, "there is simply talking to each other, and she was upset, did you know that? She came to me, practically in tears because of how you were treating her."

"Well, I didn't know this," he deflected the blame. "I mean, she didn't tell me she was upset."

"Oh come on," Stephanie said, "you should be able to know when your wife is upset, and it seems like you yelling at her might make her upset. You're an idiot, you know that, Shane. I mean, come on, look at us, we've probably got the best brother/sister combo in the world loving us. Do you know what that means? I mean, we're so damn lucky and you aren't acting like it."

"I'll talk to her," Shane told her. "I'll talk to her and I'll apologize."

"Oh yeah, you're going to apologize," Stephanie said, "and you're going to start to appreciate her. I shouldn't even be telling you these things. That girl loves you, you probably don't deserve her love at this very moment, but she does. Recognize that for what it is, something pretty great. It's not every day a beautiful, intelligent, funny woman wants to be with you."

"Gee, thanks, Stephanie."

"I'm serious, Shane," Stephanie told him, her face belying her emotions. "It's not every person that finds someone who can love them so completely. Don't ruin it."

"I won't, God," now he was just getting annoyed. Stephanie wasn't deterred, however. She wasn't going to let up on her brother, not now, not ever where it concerned Maryn. Maryn had been her sister for a long time now and she was fiercely protective of those she loved.

"And if you hurt her, Shane Brandon McMahon, so help me God, you will wish you had anyone else for a sister."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: The readers for this story continue to surprise and delight me. Thank you all so much. I feel like this is a set-up chapter, so I hope you're not too harsh on me, hope you do enjoy it! :)

**Apparently I'm an idiot who got my stories and names mixed up. I fixed the problem, sorry!**

* * *

"Dad, we're here!"

Chris peeked his head in the front door and opened it. Ted stuck his head out from the living room and smiled, "It's about time, I was wondering when you guys would show up."

Chris opened the door as his daughters spilled into the house, dressed up in matching sundresses because Stephanie was like that. Whenever they went on a special trip or outing, she liked to dressed the girls similarly. It made him really want a son so she couldn't dress him up the same way, although knowing Stephanie, she would probably find an appropriate boy's outfit to match their girls. Stephanie followed the girls inside while Maryn brought up the rear.

"There are all my girls," Ted said, walking into the room and bending down so he could get hugs from his granddaughters.

"I wears a pretty dress for you, Gramps," Aurora pulled her skirt out and gave a little twirl while giggling. "Auntie Maryn did my hair." She grinned as she shook her head around too to show off her two, brunette braided pigtails. Ted ran his hand over her head.

"You look very beautiful, the both of you," Ted said, "How are you, Murphy, you keeping everyone in line?"

"Uh huh," Murphy said, smiling at her grandpa and hugging him again. Murphy was just never one for many words, maybe when she was older and actually knew more than she did at the moment.

Ted stood up as Maryn grinned widely at him. Sometimes, when he looked at her, all he saw was his little girl. There was always going to be an innocence about her, regardless of her marital status or age, there was so much of that little girl who invaded his life unexpectedly. For so long, he thought Chris would be his only child, and he was fine with that, Chris was a great kid, and he loved having someone who wanted to be his shadow. Then Maryn showed up, her interminable personality and warmth.

"Dad," Maryn breathed as she walked over and hugged him tightly, banding her arms tightly around her neck. "I've missed you."

"Not half as much as I miss you guys, one of these days, Bonnie and I are packing up and moving to Connecticut where all the action is," Ted chuckled, "let me get a good look at you though." Maryn pulled away and extended her arms. "Beautiful as you ever were."

"Thank you," Maryn beamed.

"Oh no, I was hoping to be home and have lunch ready when you came," Bonnie said from the door, a bag of groceries in her arm. "I didn't think you'd be here this early! Ted, you said they weren't coming in until later!"

"Here, Bonnie, let me help you," Chris said, going over to his stepmother and grabbing the groceries from her. Bonnie kissed his cheek in hello as she went over and scooped up Murphy. Bonnie gave her a big bear hug, cradling the little girl against her.

"Oh, I needed a hug from you," Bonnie said.

"Me too, Grams!" Aurora said, hugging Bonnie around the waist.

"Of course you too," Bonnie said, shifting Murphy into one arm so she could hug Aurora with her free arm. "You both look adorable, and you're both so big, how did they get so big in a matter of months! This isn't fair."

"We send you pictures all the time, Bonnie," Stephanie laughed as she got a hug in there too.

"Maryn, sweetheart, why isn't Shane here?" Bonnie asked. "Ted said he wasn't coming up with you guys. I thought I'd get to see the two of you and how cute you two are. I miss those newlywed days, they're always so special."

Maryn gave a small laugh. "He's actually going to come on Saturday," Maryn explained. "He had a couple meetings he couldn't get out of, but he promised that he would be here so we could do the big family dinner on Saturday because I know Nessa is chomping at the bit to have everyone over, isn't she?"

Bonnie laughed, "She gets just as excited to see you guys."

"I can't wait to see her," Stephanie said, "I have so many things I want to talk to her about. I found this great website…and I'm boring everyone, aren't I?"

"Just slightly, babe," Chris told her, kissing her as he passed to go put the groceries in the kitchen.

Ted came over and took Murphy from Bonnie and grabbed Aurora's hand, "Come on, you two, you have to come see what I built in the backyard."

"What did you build, Ted?" Stephanie asked.

"He built a playground for all the grandkids, well, more like he bought a set and put it together, but the effort was there," Bonnie said, looping her arm through Stephanie's and then through Maryn's. They walked into the kitchen with Bonnie chattering on about how beautiful the two of them were and how happy she was to see them. "So when are you going to give us a new grandchild, Mar."

"Bonnie, don't pressure me, Shane and I are still trying to adjust to each other."

Stephanie studied her sister-in-law. She said that things were going better between her and Shane, and she wanted to believe her words had helped, but maybe Shane really was turning a corner. She hoped he was doing that because Maryn deserved better than that. Her brother had to mature at some point, and actually doing business, going to meetings that meant something was a start in that direction. She wondered though, how Maryn was really doing, and she hoped to get a few minutes alone with her while they were here so they could talk.

She also needed to talk to Chris, but that could wait until later. Right now, Bonnie was moving about putting groceries away with Chris and Maryn helping out. It was sweet, picturing that this could have been what it was like when they were kids, except with a different mother. Stephanie wished Chris and Maryn's mother was alive, just so she could see her granddaughters, who Stephanie was sure she would adore.

The rest of the day was spent being together and relaxing. It was nice for Stephanie and Chris to take a step back from their busy lives and make time for each other and the girls…well, they would have made some time for the girls if Ted and Bonnie weren't completely enamored with them, spending all their time hanging out with their grandchildren, spoiling them with attention. At the very least, it gave Stephanie and Chris a moment alone.

They sat on Chris's old bed, cross-legged, just talking about silly things until Stephanie grabbed his hands and held them in both of her own. She smiled at him and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb. "I love being in your old bedroom, it's like a blast from the past."

"It's not _exactly _the same," he protested, looking around the room. While a lot of his posters and things were still up on the wall, most of the personal items were gone, save for a few trinkets here and there and pictures on the dresser of friends he no longer kept in touch with.

"I think it's cute," Stephanie looked around, "I can just picture you in here, thinking about all you want to accomplish in the WWE, thinking about all the titles you're going to hold."

"Shut it," Chris told her, squeezing her hands.

"So…I have something to tell you," Stephanie told him.

"What about?" he asked suspiciously. "Is this about that dinner you had with you brother? Was he a jerk?"

"What? No, what would make you think that?"

"Like I don't smell a conspiracy when I see one. You taking Shane out, Maryn conveniently taking me and the girls out, I could smell a rat a mile away, but since nothing seemed to come from it, I let it go, but now you're telling me you need to tell me something, so what is it? Was he a jerk to you because I draw the line at that!"

"I'm pregnant," Stephanie interrupted him as his eyes widened. She laughed and squeezed his hands again. "I took the test yesterday, but I just wanted to wait and make sure. You know I've been so tired lately, and well, I kind of figured it out and wanted to make sure."

"Wow…" Chris scoffed and gave her the once over. "Wow…"

Stephanie laughed, "How is it that every time I tell you I'm pregnant, you always have nothing to say? It's like your brain short-circuits on me here."

"I'm just in shock," Chris chuckled. "I wasn't expecting that, but it makes perfect sense. We weren't even trying this time. I mean, with Rora and Murphy, we were trying, but this one just kind of came out of nowhere."

"I know," she said, "but you're happy, right, because I'm so happy."

"Am I happy? Are you kidding me with this, babe, you _know_ I'm happy," Chris told her, releasing her hands and grabbing her face to kiss her. "God, you have no idea how happy I am right now. I am bursting with the happy. Wow, I'm just…wow…three kids, God, I'm so blessed."

Stephanie smiled at him. "I'm so glad you're happy. I wanted to wait for a moment's peace to be able to tell you, but there didn't seem to be a right time."

"Hey, you guys," Maryn knocked on the door. "Are you busy or…having sex or anything, I wanted someone to keep me company. Dad and Bonnie only seem to care about anyone under the age of four around here, and I'm bored."

"This is what she used to do back in the day too," Chris whispered conspiratorially to Stephanie. "Come on in, Mar."

"Thank you," Maryn said, bouncing into the room and flopping down onto the bed, looking between the both of them. "You guys weren't doing anything, right? Because if naked time was going to be had, I can slowly back out of the room."

"No, there wasn't anything going on," Stephanie said, giving a smile to Chris. "What's up?"

"I tried calling Shane, but he wasn't answering his phone," Maryn said, throwing her phone down on the bed, "I guess he's busy or something. But that's okay, I can just talk to him later, he might just be working late. He's actually been working really hard lately. I'm really proud of him. I know that your dad has been kind of pushing him to actually start really putting his nose to the grindstone, is that the expression? Anyways, he's really doing well now."

"That's great to hear," Stephanie told Maryn. "I'm glad that he's really stepping up to the plate."

"Yeah, I think he might actually be receptive to the whole kid thing," Maryn's eyes lit up, "I mean, in the future, not right now or anything. He wasn't really sold on the entire kid thing at all, so this is really progress for the both of us."

"So you're happy?" Chris asked her, making sure she was actually happy and not just pretending to be happy. He didn't like getting his suspicions up, but he could kind of tell something had been off with her since the fight that sent her coming to their front door in the middle of the night.

"Yeah, I really am, I think we're really settling down with each other," Maryn was so relieved that things seemed to finally be getting back on track. She loved Shane and wanted to make things work with him, and when it seemed things were low, she felt low, but now that things were getting better, she was happy to report she was doing well, and things were looking up. Whatever Stephanie said to Shane seemed to be doing wonders to his disposition.

"I'm really glad to hear that," Stephanie told her, thinking along the same wavelength as she was. She wanted her brother to realize what it was he had waiting for him at home. Maryn was a spectacular person, and it was about time her brother started appreciating her _and_ acting like a grown-up.

Maybe he really had changed.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Thanks to all of you who are being so awesome reviewing this story, it's so cool, and I'm so pleasantly surprised by the response every time I update, you all rock! Please keep reviewing! Hope you enjoy the chapter, things are a brewing! :)

* * *

"Where are my sisters!"

Maryn rolled her eyes at Stephanie, but Stephanie just laughed and shoved Maryn in the shoulder. Maryn gave her an indignant look, but she wasn't really angry. She loved having Stephanie as a sister. As nice as it had been having a brother growing up, she'd always wanted a sister. When she was five, she'd _begged_ her parents to give her a little sister, but unfortunately, they hadn't come through with that plan. Instead, she had Stephanie as her sister, and she had Vanessa too, even though Vanessa was a little high strung for her.

"In here, Nessa!" Stephanie called out.

"We should have played possum," Maryn whispered to Stephanie with a giggle.

"Oh come on, she's not so bad," Stephanie told her. Stephanie got along well with Vanessa, but they had similar personalities. She could see where someone like Maryn might not have as much in common with her step-sister.

"You only say that because she obviously loves you best," Maryn gave her a look that said she was right, but Stephanie just stuck her tongue out as Vanessa came into the room. She was looking as immaculate as she always did. Maryn wasn't sure she'd ever seen Vanessa disheveled in her entire life. Even after she'd given birth to Maryn's step-nephew, she'd looked near perfect.

"Hey, you guys, I hate that we haven't seen each other in forever," Vanessa came over and Stephanie stood up to hug her. "Steph, you look perfect as always, which I hate you for. What's your secret?"

"Can't reveal them," Stephanie laughed. "What are you doing over here so early? Are Don and Kevin with you?"

"No, I left them at home. Hey, Chris should bring the girls over, Kevin is a little bit that 'girls are icky' stage, but he'd probably like to see his cousins," Vanessa told her, "where are Chris and the girls?"

"They're out with Ted and Bonnie. They're taking them to a park or something, I didn't get the particulars. Maryn and I were just hanging out…which I'm going to take a wild shot in the dark and say that you knew."

"My mom may have called me," Vanessa admitted, "but you guys don't come up here as often as we'd like because of work so I had to take advantage of the time. Hey, Mar, how's the married life?"

Maryn stood up and hugged her step-sister. Vanessa might not be the type of person she'd necessarily be friends with, but she was still family, and Maryn still loved her for what she was. "It's going pretty well," Maryn told her, not feeling like divulging some of the things she'd told Stephanie.

"Anyways, since you guys aren't doing anything, and since someone's husband is coming up tonight and you guys are still newlyweds, and you've got to keep that sexual flow going, if you know what I mean," Vanessa winked at her.

"Oh my God," Maryn covered her face and shook her head.

"Do you think I've sufficiently embarrassed her?" Vanessa asked Stephanie.

"Oh yeah, I'd say so," Stephanie nodded. Maryn groaned from behind her hands and then poked her face through. "Not that I want to hear anything about sexual flow because she's married to my brother."

Vanessa laughed, "Okay, okay, but still, since Shane is coming in tonight, we should go get pretty, for all our husbands."

"I don't know," Maryn said, "what did you have in mind?"

"Mani, pedis," Vanessa said, "maybe do a little shopping, what do you say?"

"I know I could use a manicure," Stephanie looked at her hands, "with the girls, it's difficult to maintain any kind of personal hygiene."

"Don't I know it, and I only have one," Vanessa said, "come on, Mar, you have to go, if you don't, you'll have to give me one good excuse not to go, and I don't think you have any."

Maryn didn't have a good excuse, and she knew Vanessa would be hurt if she didn't go with her. She remembered when her father first married Bonnie. She'd still been a teenager, and while Vanessa was older than her _and _older than Chris, sometimes Maryn felt like she'd gained a little sister. Maryn had grown up as a tomboy, constantly tagging after her cooler big brother, so when Vanessa came into her life, her girly-girl behavior was a bit mystifying. She wasn't exactly one for manicures, but it could never hurt.

"Okay, okay, you've pulled my arm, you crazy person," Maryn told her and Vanessa clapped her hands together.

"We're going to have fun, and Shane is going to be reminded of why he married you, and Chris, as always, is absolutely nut balls about you, Stephanie, so there's no worrying there," Vanessa told Stephanie.

"Way to be overdramatic there, Nessa," Stephanie told her as she went to grab her purse.

"Please, that man is so crazy about you, he'd probably jump out of a plane," Vanessa scoffed.

Stephanie shook her head as she rooted through her purse to make sure she had her wallet. Maryn stared at her sister-in-law, and wished she could be so self-assured in her husband's love. She knew Shane loved her, that wasn't in question, but she wished she could just be so flippant about it. It was a strange request, she knew, but what her brother had with Stephanie, it was a benchmark. When Chris looked at Stephanie, it was like she was the only person he could see in the world. She remembered when she'd first met Stephanie as Chris's girlfriend. She'd met Stephanie briefly before when she and her dad visited Chris after he debuted, but it had been brief. After they began dating though, it was so clear her brother had found someone special.

"_Dad, you here!" Chris called out into the seemingly empty house._

"_Chris!" Maryn called from the upstairs landing. "You're here!"_

"_Hey, Mar-bear, what's going on, little sis?" Chris said as Maryn rushed down the stairs and into her brother's waiting arms. "Aren't you supposed to be in school or something?"_

"_Summer break, doofus," Maryn told him, hugging him tighter. "What are you doing here?"_

"_Dad didn't tell you I was coming to visit for a few days?" Chris said. Maryn shook her head. "Well, I'm here to visit for a few days, is that okay with you, do I need your permission?"_

"_No, you don't need my permission," Maryn said in a goofy voice and then saw Stephanie over her brother's shoulders. "Oh my God, um, sorry, I didn't even notice you there, Stephanie."_

"_Hey, Maryn," Stephanie said, "it's really nice to see you again."_

"_Yeah, you too, but what…" Maryn looked between her brother and Stephanie as her jaw slowly started to drop. "Oh, wait, wait, are you two? Oh my God, are you two going out?"_

_Chris laughed and went over to swing his arm around Stephanie's waist. "Yeah, we're dating. I wanted to bring her home so she could formally meet all of you guys. I know she's met you and Dad before, but she hasn't met Mom, and I'd really like her to meet her."_

"_Wow, that's so cool, you guys."_

_Maryn looked over at her brother, but he was too busy staring at Stephanie. Maryn had seen her brother with other women before, other girlfriends. This was different though, she could tell. She might not be eighteen yet, but she could recognize love when she saw it. Her brother was in love with Stephanie, it was as clear as day. She was happy for them, and before she could think, she'd bum-rushed the both of them, corralling them into a hug._

"Oh, don't shake your head," Maryn quipped, joining in with her step-sister. "My brother would probably walk to the ends of the earth for you!"

"Okay, you two, enough," Stephanie said good-naturedly. "I get it, Chris loves me, blah blah blah, it's not like the two of you aren't married so shut your mouths."

Vanessa laughed and Maryn gave a quiet chuckle as they gathered their things. Vanessa had apparently counted on them saying they would come along because they all had appointments at the local day spa. Maryn didn't want to admit it, but it was nice to have a relaxing day with her step-sister and sister-in-law. She even decided she would throw in a massage as well, just to really get the pampering in.

"Something's different about you, Stephanie," Vanessa said about halfway through their pedicures. They were all sitting side-by-side, but Vanessa had been sending sidelong glances towards Stephanie for about fifteen minutes.

"What are you talking about?" Stephanie asked. She wouldn't say anything was physically different with her. She wasn't showing yet, not at all, but she was still ridiculously happy. She and Chris stayed up late the night before talking about all the things they'd have to do with regards to the new baby, and Chris had made her laugh talking to her stomach and praying it was a boy.

"I don't know, I can't place it, but something is different with you," Vanessa squinted her eyes as if that would give her a clearer picture of Stephanie. "So spill, what's going on? It's not something bad, it's something good because you sometimes get this stupid grin on your face. What's up?"

"Nothing, I'm just happy to get away from work for a while, it's been pretty stressful," Stephanie told Vanessa. "Plus, with two children, it's just nice to have a day away from it all."

"Mmhmm," Vanessa said, but she wasn't entirely convinced that's what was going on with Stephanie. Stephanie didn't want to bring up her pregnancy because although she and Chris were excited about it and anticipating all that was to come, it was still the first trimester and it didn't matter if this was her third child, there could always be complications, and she didn't want to announce it just yet. It was kind of nice to keep it between her and Chris for now.

"Don't look at me like that!" Stephanie chastised her.

"I don't know, Steph, you do look a little different," Maryn told her.

"You don't go piling it on, Maryn, got it," Stephanie wagged her newly manicured finger in Maryn's direction.

Maryn's phone rang from her purse and she frowned at it. Her nails were dry, but she didn't want to risk getting them messed up. Her pedicurist offered to grab it for her and she took it gratefully, seeing it was Shane on the line. She smiled and answered immediately. "Hey, you, don't tell me you've landed already. My dad won't be able to pick you up for a few hours."

"Hey, Mar, I hate to give you such short notice, but I can't make it after all."

"What?" Maryn asked, her face dropping. It didn't go unnoticed by Stephanie or Vanessa and they exchanged a look as they listened to Maryn's end of the conversation.

"I know, I know, I promised that I would be there to do the whole family thing, but this meeting came up, and I need to take it."

"Why?" Maryn asked. "You said you wouldn't take any meetings, and everyone is going to be there."

"I know I said I wouldn't, but this one just came up out of nowhere and it's too big not to take it. It's in regards to advertising, and this could be a huge deal for us. I normally wouldn't, but it would really be a coup, you know. I really have to start taking responsibility over here, and with Stephanie not here this weekend, I'm the one who has to step up."

"Well, I guess I get it," Maryn said. "Sometimes work has to come first, and if it's important for the company, I understand."

"Thanks, babe, you have no idea how sorry I am that I have to miss everything. I miss you," he added sweetly.

"I miss you too."

"I'll make it up to you when you get back, alright?"

"Okay," she conceded.

"I better go, love you."

"Love you too," Maryn said, hanging up the call.

"What's that about?" Vanessa asked, her face already twisting in sympathy, indicating she knew exactly what happened.

"Shane can't make it," Maryn shrugged helplessly. "He suddenly got called for this big meeting, and he just can't make it, but he said he'd make it up to me once we got back. It just sucks, you know, I was really looking forward to him coming here, and everyone being here. I was going to take him to visit my mom's grave and everything. It's okay though, we're married, there's plenty of time for it, right?"

Stephanie and Vanessa could both tell she was trying to stay strong and they each grabbed one of her hands, giving it a squeeze. "We can totally plan the whole family thing next time," Vanessa told her. "It'll be fun then too, we're family now, we stick together."

"Yeah," Stephanie added. "We'll still have fun, hey, you know what, why don't we make it a girl's night out too. After dinner, we go get drinks, we dance with guys who think they can still sleep with us, it'll be fun."

"You guys don't have to do that, I'm fine," Maryn told them. "It's life, he has work. He's really putting a lot into it right now, and I'm so proud of him. He's really stepping up."

"No, I want to go out, Stephanie's idea is _fantastic_," Vanessa added, "come on, Mar, you have to, we never get to have fun!"

"Fine, but only because I know you two are relentless and you won't take no for an answer," Maryn said, secretly glad they were both there with her. She missed her husband, and she hated that work was coming between them right now, but she was right when she said he had to step up. He couldn't be that guy anymore who simply rested on his laurels.

When they got back to the house, everyone was there, and Stephanie excused herself to the bathroom. She turned on the water and got out her phone. Something had been bugging her since Shane had called Maryn, but there was nothing she could do about it with the woman right there. Now she was back at the house and had some modicum of privacy, or at least she hoped.

"Stephanie, you okay?" Chris called out as he knocked on the bathroom door.

"Yes," Stephanie said, "I'll be right out."

"Are you…throwing up?" Chris asked, his voice lowering.

"No," Stephanie said. "I'm okay, just using the bathroom like a normal person, could you give me a minute, geez."

"Sorry, I'll be downstairs," he said, "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something more…hormonal."

Stephanie laughed, "No, more like nature calling, thanks!"

She could hear Chris laughing as he left the room and she looked to her phone again. It was Saturday, it was rare they took meetings on Saturday unless it was some kind of emergency. She called the WWE reception and waited for the weekend secretary to answer the phone. Being the weekend secretary for the building was probably one of the easiest jobs since so few people came in on the weekends. It was pretty much her and her father who were frequent regulars or people who worked on the video production, but come Friday night, the place cleared out.

"Hello, WWE, this is Allison, how may I direct your call."

"Hey, Allison, this is Stephanie McMahon-Irvine," Stephanie started, "I need to know if there are any meetings scheduled for this evening, specifically any that involve advertising."

"I can already tell you there aren't any meetings," Allison said, "nobody cleared anybody to come into the building today except for regular personnel so nobody should be here that isn't expected or planned way ahead of time, certainly nothing impromptu."

"That's what I thought, thanks," Stephanie said.

"Have a nice weekend, Mrs. McMahon-Irvine."

"You too." Stephanie hung up her phone and turned off the water, staring into the mirror. She looked enough like her brother that she could picture him when she stared at her own visage. She was going to ask her brother some questions when they got home. And if she didn't like the answers…

She was going to kill him.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Once again, I'm so appreciative of the love this story gets. I'm so pleased that you love it so much, and thank you so much for reading it. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and reviews would be lovely. :)

* * *

Stephanie hated keeping secrets from her husband. That wasn't the kind of thing their relationship was based on. They had a mutual trust for one another, one that was bred on years of being together and understanding the other person. It was _not_ that she wanted to keep things from him, but she also knew how her husband reacted to certain things, and the people that her husband was protective over.

First came their children, of course, nobody came before their kids, and she loved him for that. Then it had to be her and Maryn for the tie. So to think that Shane could be hurting her, and hurting her this badly, Chris would go ballistic. She'd never seen Chris go ballistic, but she couldn't imagine it as anything else, but the worst sight she might ever see. And she needed to know answers before she unleashed that on her brother.

That was the other problem. The man in question, the one who could be breaking her sister-in-law's heart was none other than her own flesh and blood. Stephanie knew there were vast differences between her and her brother, there always had been, but she would have never taken him for an adulterer. Maybe she shouldn't have been so naïve though. Her father certainly had no qualms when he'd cheated on their mother.

Now she was jumping to conclusions though, and she resolved herself not to do that, not yet anyways. "You're being awfully quiet," Chris told her from the seat next to her. Their weekend was over, the fun had been had, and now it was back to the grind of their regular lives. She was dreading confronting her brother, and she wished they could stay in Canada for another week just so she could stall longer.

"Sorry," Stephanie said, turning towards him, giving him a soft smile.

"You don't need to apologize, I was just making an observation," he took her hand and kissed her palm. "Anything you want to talk about? You've got your mad thinking face on, that's when you just can't get something out of your mind."

"Nothing, work stuff," she was being vague on purpose. She was better off changing the subject before he got suspicious. "Oh, remind me to make a doctor's appointment when we get home, I don't want to forget that."

"As if you could forget the person growing inside of you," Chris chuckled and crisis averted. "Even if you did forget, I think the hormonal changes would be enough to remind you. How are you doing anyways? I know with Rora you had trouble flying, are you doing okay this time?"

"Yeah," Stephanie told him, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze. "I'm doing fine, trust me. Just thinking about getting back to work tomorrow and everything that's going to entail. Sometimes I do love vacations."

"Your brother is rubbing off on you too much." Stephanie grimaced slightly at that, and Chris immediately picked up on it, "Are you sure you're okay? Is something wrong?"

"Just hungry," she lied again, and felt even worse for it now. She didn't want to lie to Chris, but the alternative was just too scary to think about, "Can we please get lunch when we land, I need to eat."

"Of course, like I'd let you guys starve. I'd never let my girls go without something they wanted," he leaned over and kissed the side of her head, his lips pressing against her hair.

She hated lying to him so very, very much.

Stephanie strode into her brother's office with a purpose. Shane was on the phone, but noticed as soon as Stephanie walked in because her presence was stifling. He looked at her in confusion, but she just stood there, one hand on her hip as she stared down at him. Stephanie could be intimidating when she wanted to, and right now she wanted to be intimidating. Shane finished his call and looked up at his sister.

"What's going on?" he wondered, looking at her. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, something happened," Stephanie told him, putting her other hand on her other hip and glaring at him. "You lied to Maryn this weekend, that's what happened, and don't try to wiggle your way out of this, Shane Brandon McMahon, because I called reception because we don't take meetings on the weekend."

"How is this any of your business?" Shane asked.

Stephanie scoffed, "Are you serious right now? Actually, you're _lucky_ that it's me here right now and not my husband because if it were my husband, you'd be unconscious right now. You better have a damn good explanation for why my sister-in-law is hurting."

"I'm not hurting her," Shane protested.

"Get your head out of your ass, Shane!" Stephanie nearly yelled at him, her voice raising a couple octaves. Shane looked nervously towards the door, but Stephanie didn't care who might hear them, hell, let everyone know her brother was a liar. "She was so excited to have you come up this weekend—"

"I would have come up, but like I told her, I had a—"

"No, you didn't, you didn't because I verified," Stephanie told him, "I have higher standing in this company, do you really think anything like that would get by me without me knowing."

"Well, gee, thanks for lording that over my head," Shane rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't turn this into some sibling rivalry thing," Stephanie chastised him, "you know I do twice the work you do around here, but I like it, that's the difference. Besides, it's not about this, it's about you continuously hurting your _wife_, do you even get that, Shane?"

"I'm not hurting her! She would tell me if I were hurting her!"

"You think so? Look, I'm married to the male version of Maryn, and sometimes he bottles things up, so don't you think the same could be said of her. God, Shane, sometimes I wonder if you ever really know her. How can you not see how much she's hurting?"

"I'm her husband, I know what's going on with her."

"Fine, so what's going on with you?"

"None of your business," Shane argued again.

Stephanie stomped up to Shane's desk and slammed both her palms down on the top of his desk. "When it involves the people I love, you better damn well believe it's my business. Maryn is my sister, she has been since I started dating Chris. I love her, I _love_ her, and if you are screwing around on her or hurting her, I will make you pay, Shane McMahon—"

"I'm your brother," Shane told her, "you'd think you'd have a little trust in me."

"You blew that when Maryn came crying to my house in the middle of the night. You know what the funny thing is? I told Chris to stay out of your relationship because I thought he was crazy for not trusting you, but I'm standing here looking at someone I thought I knew. What the hell, Shane? What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me!" Shane stood up and faced her down.

"Then why don't you appreciate what you have!" Stephanie said. "Why are you throwing it all away? I don't get you, Shane. I know the Irvines, the moment I saw Chris, I just knew that something about him was captivating, I'm assuming you felt something like that with Maryn. They're amazing, Shane, and you're blowing it, and I can't stand to sit back and watch it."

"I'm not blowing anything," Shane told her, "Maryn came home and she seemed happy."

Stephanie wanted to slap her brother across the face. How could he be so naïve and stupid as to think that just because someone looked happy they were happy? There were plenty of times she'd held in her anger or sadness and put on a happy façade. And if Maryn was anything like Chris, this was a normal occurrence. Her brother should not be so flippant about this, and the fact that he was being like this only infuriated her further.

"You're an idiot," Stephanie told him, "and the worst part about this is that you haven't actually said you didn't cheat on her."

"I'm not going to give in to your accusations," Shane scoffed, giving her a look of disgust. "What I do with my life is none of your business, seriously, Stephanie, it's not! I don't go prying into your relationship with Chris and start spouting off and saying stuff like he's probably cheating on you when you go on tour."

"Because Chris wouldn't do that to me."

"And you know this for sure?" Shane asked. "I could go around accusing him too, it's about as much basis as you've got for accusing me of shit like that."

"You're unbelievable if you can't see the difference," Stephanie told him, shaking her head. She was disgusted with her brother. She'd stuck up for him for years, not just with Chris, but with her parents, who so many times wanted to give him a swift kick in the ass for his lazy ways. She'd tell them that Shane just had a different working style than they did. So many times she'd come to bat for Shane, and he was going to stand here and tell her that she was jumping to conclusions.

"It's the same thing!"

"Then tell me where you really were this weekend," Stephanie told him. "Tell me where you were, and why you couldn't fly up to Canada. Everyone was there, you _knew_ she wanted you there, that it was important to her because it would be the first time with the entire family up there. Nessa had this whole big family thing, and she wanted you there, she wanted you there because you're her husband—"

"Well, I couldn't be, I had a meeting, it was impromptu, that's why it wasn't scheduled, I don't have to report everything to this damn company!"

"Took you long enough to come up with something," she said through gritted teeth. "I don't know what you're doing, Shane, and I'm not the one you have to answer to, but there is someone who loves you, and you are ruining everything. If you're betraying her, you are making the biggest mistake in your entire life."

"Don't try and dictate my life," he shook his head. "What happens in my marriage is my own, same thing with your marriage."

"I've known Maryn since she was a teenager. She's one of the sweetest, most loving people in this universe. She welcomed me into her family with open arms, and she loves her brother to distraction. She took care of her mother in addition to juggling school and wrestling training. She loves with her whole heart, and if you're one of the lucky ones who gets that love, God, it's the same with her brother. They are special, both of them, and we are so lucky, and if you throw that away, Shane, I don't know what to say to you anymore."

Stephanie turned and left the office, walking past Shane's secretary, who was obviously pretending to do work and not talk about what might have happened in there. Stephanie walked to the elevator, pressing the button and waiting for it to show up. Once it did, she stepped inside and sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. She pressed her hand against her stomach.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that, little one," Stephanie told the person growing inside of her. "Sometimes Mommy gets very, very upset, and I tend to overreact to some things. This is not one of those times though. Your Uncle Shane is being an idiot towards your Auntie Maryn. You're going to love her, I know you will. Just bear with me for a while."

Stephanie reached her floor and stepped off into the hallway, nodding at a few people as she passed them on her way to the office. Her own secretary smiled at her, handing her a couple messages she'd received while she was gone. She also gave Stephanie a sly look, but Stephanie ignored it because she was still angry with her brother. She walked into her office, muttering to herself that she needed to check in with booking and see where they were on international booking. She wanted to do another tour of China if they could.

"Always working so hard," a voice said and Stephanie's head shot up.

"Trish, what are you doing here?" Stephanie walked over to her friend and hugged her tightly.

"I had a meeting with your dad this morning," Trish said as Stephanie raised an eyebrow. "Calm down on the storylines running through your head right now, Steph, it was because he was thinking about putting me into the Hall of Fame, and wanted to see if it could fit in my schedule this year, so don't start thinking I'm coming back."

"That's too bad, I would have loved to have seen you back," Stephanie said, putting her messages on the desk before she leaned back against it. "I wish I'd known you were coming, I would have scheduled lunch with you."

"You don't have the time?"

"I do, I just would have made reservations somewhere nice."

"You know I'm not like that," Trish said, "so where were you? I was a little surprised that you weren't working at this very moment like all the other moments of the day."

"I was just visiting someone in the building," Stephanie said. She looked at Trish and she thought for a moment. It would be nice to get an outsider's opinion on this, and she could trust Trish. They'd been friends for years, and Trish was about as logical as they came. "Hey, so if you've got a moment, do you think I could talk to you about something?"

"Of course you can," Trish said, taking a seat across from Stephanie. "What's up?"

"I need you to be objective with this, and I need your advice," Stephanie said. "Look, what would you do if…well, if someone you loved and cared about was being betrayed by someone very close to them?"

"What?" Trish tilted her head. "I think you'd have to be more specific, Steph."

"You know what, never-mind," Stephanie said, "just a stupid storyline I was thinking of and I couldn't figure out how to do it without it coming off as something we've done before, but I'll figure it out."

"Are you sure?" Trish wondered, looking at Stephanie and trying to analyze her face.

"I'm sure," Stephanie said. She gave Trish a smile that she hoped seemed genuine. "Let's go to lunch, I'm starving."

"Okay," Trish nodded, letting whatever that was go, at least for the moment.

Stephanie hated being a liar.


	18. Chapter 18

Stephanie was always about family. She loved her family to distraction, and she considered them her greatest accomplishment. For all the work she did, if one of her daughters needed her or her husband, she would drop everything for them. To her, there was nothing more important that her family. They were the ones who would be there when everything else faded away. They were the ones who stuck by you, and she was as fiercely loyal as they came.

But her brother was testing her patience.

Ever since she'd practically called him out, she tried to keep an eye on him. It was difficult given that his office was in a different part of the building, not to mention she was pregnant and that took up a lot of her time since she was still in the early stages and had to watch what she was doing and how she ate and when she took her vitamins. Still, her eye was on his brother, trying to make sure he wasn't screwing up the best thing to ever happen to him.

She was sure the best thing was Maryn. Stephanie couldn't imagine any guy wanting to give someone like her up. Stephanie had known Maryn since she was a teenager, watched her grow into the woman she was now, and was so proud to know her. Maryn was just like her brother, a personality that drew you in and made you feel like you were someone's entire world. Maryn could have any guy she wanted with her combination of personality, wit, and good looks. She chose Shane above anyone else, and her brother needed to recognize how many men he'd beat out.

Stephanie turned around in her chair randomly, needing a break from her computer screen. It was getting late in the day, and she would probably need to call it quits soon if she wanted to get home in time for dinner. She was planning on staying a little late today, despite her husband's wishes. Chris was starting his usual "don't put too much strain on yourself" routine she'd been through with both Aurora and Murphy, and it was bugging her just like it did with Aurora and Murphy. And with this being their third child, she was more than prepared for what was coming.

She looked down into the parking lot and saw her brother just leaving. It was nothing new for her to see him leaving given the hours she kept in comparison to the hours he kept. She looked at her watch and saw it was ten after five, so of course her brother was leaving. She'd stay until six and leave, she compromised with herself. Dinner at home was usually at 6:30, so she would have plenty of time to be there for that.

Shane stopped for a moment to talk to a blonde woman, just for a moment, but it was a moment that piqued her interest. She'd never seen that woman before, so she must work in a department she wasn't familiar with, but how was her brother familiar with her? She tried to shake it from her mind, turning her chair back around as her brother left, but it kept nagging at her, most likely a side effect of hearing Maryn's fears. Ever since then, Stephanie's suspicious red flags were waving high and at full mast.

Stephanie stood up and walked upstairs. Like she thought, Teresa, Shane's secretary was still toiling away. Shane left her with so much work sometimes, Stephanie felt bad for her. Someone should offer the poor woman a raise. "Teresa, hey."

"Oh hey, Mrs. Irvine, are you looking for your brother?"

"Yeah, is he here?" Stephanie lied, knowing full well he was gone.

"Yeah, he just left about fifteen minutes ago now," Teresa said, "is it urgent? I can contact him if it's urgent."

"No, I mean, it's a little pressing," she lied again, making a mental note to come up with some kind of reason to see her brother. "I just really needed to talk to him about some online advertising. It somehow got through to my department when it's really nothing to do with what I'm doing, and I just wanted to make sure he got the information about it."

There, that wasn't a total lie, some paperwork did accidentally go through to her department that should have been for Shane. It wasn't pressing though, that's where the real lie was. In fact, it was merely a transfer of information, but Teresa didn't need to know that. "Oh, well, if it's pressing, Mr. McMahon said that he could be contacted at Valbella. Did you want me to call him?"

"Oh no, that's okay, but thank you," Stephanie said, "I think it can wait until tomorrow."

"Of course," Teresa said. "Have a nice evening, Mrs. Irvine."

"You too," Stephanie smiled, walking away. As soon as she was turned, she was determined. Her brother was at a notoriously romantic restaurant, and for what reason? Well, maybe there was a good reason. Stephanie walked back to her office and grabbed her phone, dialing her sister-in-law's number.

"Steph, hey, what's up?" Maryn asked.

"Hey, Mar, I was wondering what you were doing for dinner tonight. Chris is cooking, and I'm sure it's something amazing, why don't you and my brother come over for dinner?"

"Thanks, Steph, but can I take a rain-check? Shane has to work late tonight, and I'm going out with some friends since I have nobody to hang out with tonight at home. He's probably still in the building, maybe invite him to dinner because I'd like to know my husband is eating."

"Oh, working late?" Stephanie said. "Well, I guess maybe I will be able to catch him."

"Yeah, he's actually really buckling down lately, and despite…well, all the things we've discussed, this is actually a good thing. I know how your parents see him sometimes, and I know how they compare you and him, and maybe that's what was getting to him, but either way, there can't be a lot of bad in wanting to do a great job, right?"

"Right," Stephanie said, though her voice even sounded strained to her ears, "you're probably rubbing off on him with your work ethic."

"Ha! I wish," Maryn laughed. "I better go though, my friends are going to be here any minute, but have a great night, tell my brother I said hello and I love his stupid face, and tell my girls that I love, love, love them, and we have to hang out soon."

"I'll tell them," Stephanie said, hanging up the call and staring out into space. Her brother was testing her every nerve right now. She had to do something, or at least find out what was going on. Business meetings didn't usually take place at places like Valbella. Chris took her there once after Aurora was born, a couple weeks after if she remembered correctly, just so he could show her how much he loved her and appreciated her for having his child. It was extremely romantic and beautiful, and you didn't take business people there.

She looked at the work she'd planned to do for the next hour or so and decided it could wait until tomorrow. If her sister-in-law was being hurt, she needed to know. She couldn't stand the though of Maryn finding something like this out on her own, if there was something to find out. She piled her paperwork on top of her desk, ready for her perusal tomorrow, and shut down her laptop. She gathered her things and left (her secretary didn't have to stay longer). Before she could drive off though, she grabbed her phone one more time.

"Hey, babe," Chris said as he answered the phone. "What's up?"

"Hey, sweetheart, I just wanted to tell you that I have to work a little late tonight, and before you give me the pregnancy spiel, this means that I can probably come home at a reasonable time the rest of the week," she didn't know if that was true, but she could make exceptions. She still hated lying to her husband, but it was better for her to catch Shane than for Chris to catch him, if he was doing something bad. Chris would be punches first, feelings later.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just tonight, I promise," Stephanie said, "I hope you weren't making something fancy."

"No, just meatloaf, so I suppose it's nothing fancy," he told her. "What time do you think you'll be home?"

"Oh, not that late, probably 7:30, maybe 8, so nothing like I used to, I'll just grab food somewhere along the way."

"Are you sure?" Chris said.

"Yeah, I'm sure, I love you," she told him.

"Okay, well, I love you too," he said, "but please don't stay in too late. Like, I get it, it's work, you love it, you want to do _all_ of it, but really, don't strain yourself, alright? We already had to monitor your blood pressure with two babies, I'd like it if we didn't have to do it with the third."

"That was just a precaution, Chris, you know that, I didn't have high blood pressure for either baby," Stephanie reminded him.

"I'm just saying!"

"I love you, goodbye," she said in a sing-song voice as she hung up. She started her car and drove to the restaurant. This is where it got tricky. She couldn't just walk in and sit down because her brother might see her, but she couldn't sneak in because that would look even stranger. What could she possibly do to get inside, but not have to sit down? She frowned, trying to think of a way to be slick, but she wasn't exactly a spy.

Finally, it came to her, she'd only been there once, so there was no way they knew her. She walked into the restaurant and up to the hostess. "Hello, welcome to Valbella, may I take your name?"

"Actually, no, you see, I wanted to do something special for my husband, and I heard good things about your restaurant and I just wanted to check it out, see if it was the right place to take him."

"Oh, of course, would you like to look at a menu?" she asked.

"That would be lovely thanks, and tell me, do you host for parties?"

"Yes, we do, you can rent out one of our rooms or the entire restaurant, we have pricings for that available."

"Great, he's coming out with a new CD soon, he's in a band, and I thought maybe if we like it here, I could surprise him with a launch party for that," Stephanie said smoothly. She was a McMahon, she took after her father, her lies were smooth and cool.

"Wow, that's amazing, we have some seats over there if you'd like to take a look at the menu and sit, and if you want to take a look around, feel free," the hostess said as she handed Stephanie a menu. She smiled and sat down, looking at the menu, or at least pretending to look at it. She surreptitiously looked into the dining room, but couldn't immediately see her brother. So she looked at the menu for a few more minutes before returning to the hostess, handing it back to her and telling her she wanted to take a small look around.

She stepped carefully into one of the dining rooms, trying to keep her head down and focus any attention away from her. She looked around, but didn't see her brother in this dining room so she turned and went into another, feeling silly and exposed. Her brother might not even be here. Maybe the Valbella thing was a cover-up. And now she was starting to sound like her husband when he had suspicions about her brother. She felt downright stupid now. She was about to turn to go when she saw the blonde woman from the parking lot.

And the back of her brother's head.

And his hand holding hers.

Stephanie almost felt as if she'd been cheated on. She knew this was a strong possibility. She'd seen it in her brother's face that he was lying, but she'd hoped, she dared to hope that her brother was not the idiot she thought he was. There was something so wrong about seeing someone you looked up to when you were little end up being the worst person you could possibly imagine. She turned away and walked up to the hostess. She had to keep up the ruse for a few more minutes, and actually made a reservation for her and Chris the next week. At least her husband would appreciate the gesture. Maybe that's when she could break it to him.

She went to her car and sat there a moment before her stomach grumbled. There was a Taco Bell across the street and she went to get some food, contemplating on where to eat it, but she ended up right back in the parking lot of the restaurant, eating a taco and watching the door. While she waited, for what she wasn't even sure, she thought back to her first meeting with Maryn, how she'd been so bright-eyed about the entire business, how she was in awe of everyone, how Stephanie instantly liked her though she only met her for a few minutes. It was because she was Chris's sister, and Stephanie had a crush on him even then.

But once she started to get to know Maryn, she loved her, she loved everything about her surrogate sister, who smiled for everyone, and brightened up a room like her brother. When you got the two Irvine siblings on a roll, they could entertain everyone with their words and actions, so in tune with one another you'd think they were a trained comedy act. Maryn didn't deserve her brother's betrayal.

When Shane finally left, it was with a kiss to the blonde woman who Stephanie instantly wanted to fire. The betrayal was complete. She wasn't even sure how she got home, couldn't tell you about the drive. She was numb and sad and jaded against her own brother. She pulled into the driveway, leaving her work in the car, just grabbing her purse and walking inside. She went straight to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and her prenatal vitamin, ignoring everything else until Chris walked into the room.

"Hey, where have you been?"


End file.
